After reading this case study need to identify the key issue there is only one and the secondary issue their are multiple Case study below. Growing Sales in the Increasingly Crowded Wine and Beer Market

Chase Wine & Beer is a boutique manufacturer and marketer of beer and wine products. The company owns a small winery in the Hunter Valley in new South Wales and also sources wine from another wine producer in the Yarra Valley in Victoria. The company has a small brewery in Newcastle, where its head office is also located. Its location is very convenient to the large Sydney of some 5 million residents. It has a small shop at the brewery where it retails its range of four wines (three whites and one red) and its range of beers two full strength beers, one medium strength, and a low alcohol beer). There is also a small bar at the brewery where the wine and beer range can be tried, and tours of the brewery, and the nearby Hunter Valley winery can be arranged. Some of the ideas for operations and marketing were modelled on the award winning Balter Brewery in Currumbin, on the Gold Coast which Kaiser and Dakota Smith-Browne (the owners) had visited, prior to establishing Chase Wine and Beer. By boutique wine and micro-brewery standards the operations of Chase Wine & Beer are large, with a turnover in the millions of dollars.

The business has been established for five years, and it has all been working well, with distribution into a selected range of Liquorland stores in Newcastle and Sydney, and with direct supply to six restaurants in Sydney and Newcastle. The owners had personally approached these six restaurants in the first year of operations and built strong supply relationships with them in the ensuing years. Chase Wine & Beer uses a contracting trucking company to deliver supplies to the biggest customer Liquorland, and to the six restaurants, The great bulk of sales are to the selected Liquorland outlets, followed by the six restaurants, trailed not far behind by the combined sales of the small shop and bar at their head office and brewery in Newcastle.

In terms of marketing communications Kaiser and Dakota Smith-Browne employ a marketing manager, who (along with Dakota) has partial responsibility for driving sales and maintaining the sales relationships with Liquorland and the six restaurants. Kaiser looks more after both the wine and beer operations side of the business. Zara Kiki been involved from the beginning of the business and helped to choose the brand names for the four wines, and the four beers, and in the designing and implementation of the marketing communications strategy. The owners have travelled and lived in Spain and have a great respect for Spanish wine producers. Kaiser also really likes several Spanish beer brands.

The brand names in the wine range are CWB El Mojo Vino (premium priced, very aspirational),CWB Gran Vino (medium priced, more accessible, but still premium), CWB Buen Vino (medium priced, less premium) and CWB Para Toros (lower end price, more accessible, the entry level brand). The same market coverage strategy is followed with the four beers in the beer range, with CWB Gran Castillo (premium priced, very aspirational),CWB Casa Grande (medium priced, more assessable, but still premium),CWB Casa (medium priced, less premium) and CWB De la Gente(lower end price, accessible, the entry level brand).

The marketing communications is centred on usage of three marketing communications elements: personal selling, advertising and public relations (specifically events) Firstly, the personal selling involves communications the products attributes in the on-site store and at the bar (and indirectly through the brewery and winery tours). It also involves the business to business personal selling to Liquorland and the six restaurants. Zara and Dakota are on first name terms with a number of the store managers in the selected Liquorland outlets and with all six restaurants managers in Sydney and Newcastle.Secondly, while there is a limited advertising budget, they do take out full-page ads in the trade press for the liquor industry to try and raise awareness of their wine and beer brands. There is not the budget to advertise each CWB brand separately, so the full page print ads promote the full range of products under the headline of"Made With Love & Care"and using the corporate tagline"From the House of Chase Wine & Beer". The visuals feature product shots of all eight products in the portfolio. The third element in the communications strategy is public relations, specifically events. In the last two years Zara Kiki has found the budget to appear at the Sydney Good Food & Wine Show and the Newcastle Food and Wine Expo. The thinking is that this gives the wine and beer range exposure to a wider audience than the demographic they conclude their sales have principally been from.

While the business is doing generally well, management is aware that that there has been considerable growth in boutique wineries, and in microbreweries that do not compete against large operators like Penfolds in the wine market, and Carlton United Breweries in the beer market. They instead largely compete against other boutique wine brands and micro-brewery brands, in a niche part of the market. The bulk of sales are in the mainstream, with big brands being dominant in the main liquor chains like Liquorland, Dan Murphy's, Woolworth's Liquor, First Choice, Vintage Cellars, BWS and Aldi Liquor, and independent chains like Cellarbrations. Hotel groups are also big buyers of the big wine and beer brands, as are the limited number of big restaurant groups in Australia, Across the country there are also many independent bars, restaurants and cafes who buyer liquor supplies in small volumes.

In the face of all of this, small boutique wine brands and micro-brewery beer brands face some difficulties in obtaining the wide distribution and volume of sales that would allow them to grow further. Many of the big buyers are happy to stock (or have on the menu) a limited of non-mainstream brands, but the buyers know that the great bulk of end-customers want to purchase and consume mainstream well known brands. Zara Kiki believes that part of the secret of breaking out of the competition with others similar sized niche players is powerful branding and strong marketing communications. She essentially believes that is"if you get well known, you get stocked!"

Given this belief, how to break out of being an upmarket niche wine and beer marketer, with a limited range and limited distribution in Newcastle and Sydney (and Spanish brand names!) is a question that Zara as the marketing manager andKaiser and Dakota Smith-Browne as the owners, have been puzzling about. They share a common assumption (based on customers in their in-site liquor shop and small bar) that purchasers and consumers of their wine and beer brands are generally pretty affluent white collar workers (mostly managers and professionals) who perceive themselves as having discerning tastes when it comes to liquor consumption, and generally don't like to be seen drinking mainstream wines and beers. Males are the great bulk of the buyers for their four beers, while there is more of a gender mix among buyers of their four wines. As the marketing manager Zara perceives that there is a limited pool of this target market demographics in their key markets of Newcastle and Sydney, and that some changes might be required to branding and communications.

She is proposing changes to one of the wine brands (CWB Para Toros) and one of the beer brands (CWB De la Gente). In the product portfolio these have had the least volume of sales compared to the other three wines in the product line and the other three beers in the product line.This would involve rebranding CWB Para Toros simply to 'Splash', and rebranding the hard to pronounce CWB De la Gente simply to 'Fella' and repositioning both from being a serious boutique wine for wine connoisseurs (CWB DE la Gente) and a serious micro-brew beer brand (in the case of CWB Para Toros), to light hearted wine and beer brands appealing to a younger and less serious demographic. Common branding of all four wines in the range and all four beers in the range would end, with 'Splash' and 'Fella' being split off with the rebranding, repositioning, new communications in pursuit of the new demographic, that might buy in greater volume and take ChaseWine & Beer into a completely new market segment, away from the increasingly crowded boutique wine and micro-brewery segment. The other three wines and the other three beers would remain in this segment of the market. Their Spanish branding does not appear to be a major problem to their generally well-travelled and cosmopolitan buyers.

Zara Kiki has suggested that Kaiser and Dakota Smith-Browneconsider approaching the owners of the Simpsons or South Park brands (with their various brand characters), and try to buy the licensing rights to use characters like Homer Simpson (The Simpsons) and Kenny (Southpark)to use on the wine and beer labels. This would create 'standout' at point of sales in Liquorland (where the greatest volume of sales comes from) since the characters are so widely recognised. The beer is sold in 6 packs with cardboard packaging, so the characters could be featured on the cardboard packs as well. Zara proposes that distribution of the rebranded wine and beer product be ceased to the six restaurants, since the fun irreverent imagery might not appeal to restaurant goers. They would of course still be stocked and sold in the on-site liquor store and bar.

She feels that advertising and events would be critical to launch and promote 'Splash' and 'Fella'. Trade press advertising to the liquor industry would be critical, though given the change in brand positioning and imagery separate ads (from the products keeping their current brand names, positioning and imagery) would be needed. This would require a larger media budget, or a reduction in the budget for the existing ads running in the trade press with the savings used to buy ad space for 'Splash' and 'Fella'. Possibly one of the other big retail group chains (like BWS, First Choice or Woolworths Liquor) might want to stock the two brands, thereby opening-up the possibility of building a separate sales revenue stream.

Usage of the characters might mean that communications could move beyond public relations events like the stands at the Sydney Good Food & Wine Show and the Newcastle Food and Wine Expo (though stands would still be booked for the 6 unchanged CWB brands in the portfolio). Zara Kiki believe that instead sales promotions could be utilized for the two new rebranded products. Shehas suggested that in-bar and in-club promotions at Sydney and Newcastle inner city bars and clubs frequented by innovators, early adopters, and opinion leaders might be appropriate. The promotions crews would dress as the licensed Simpsons or South Park characters and would give away small sampler bottles (wine cooler sized) of 'Splash' and the regular sized 'Fella'. Those in the club or bar could sample more than one or two of bottles of 'Splash' and Fella'. Care would need to be taken not to impact on the club or bars revenue takings from this sales promotion. The clubs and bars would then be encouraged to stock 'Splash' and 'Fella' as part of their regular product range. It might all generate some excitement, especially if the innovators, early adopters and opinion leaders posted selfies with the Simpsons or South Park characters in social media and commented about the brand(s) positively.

Zara has also suggested that free samples be given away outside the current selected Liquorland stores which currently stock Chase Wine & Beer products. Care would need to be taken to only give away the 'Splash' and 'Fella' products to adults, though Zara is mindful that it might be impractical for the characters dressed in full sized Simpsons character suits or South Park character suits to ask for proof of age (and in any case not everyone carries identification documents all the time).

Part of what is driving the marketing manager's thinking is the popularity of wine cooler products (brands like West Coast Cooler and Moscato 2020), after wine cooler product sales hit a peak a few years ago. Zara is also inspired by the current popularity of pre-mixed packaged alcoholic drinks like Bacardi Breezers, Ruski Lemons, and Vodka Cruisers, especially among a younger female demographic (who is fun seeking and wants something light and refreshing). She clearly sees 'Splash' as appealing to females in particular, while 'Fella' would appeal principally to males. Male licensed characters from the tv shows (whichever one license rights could be obtained for) would be used principally for 'Fella' while female characters from the shows would principally be used for 'Splash'.

With her hand on her heart, Zara Kiki's last suggestion to the owners of Chase Wine & Beer is that they somehow find the budget for their first ever television and online campaign! She thinks that a 15 second ad for 'Splash' and a 15 second ad for 'Fella', with limited spots bought for a two month period to launch the rebranded, repositioned and reimaged two brands would get things off to a good start. Zara figures that spots using YouTube would reach a lot of people in the younger fun seeking alcohol drinking demographic that likes and uses YouTube regularly. TV shows to have spots booked around them would include those appealing to an 18-24 year old demographic, with care taken to identify shows with a skew towards a female audience for 'Splash' and those with a male audience skew for 'Fella'. It also has occurred to Zara that given the proposed usage of the Simpsons or South Park characters buying media spots around cartoon shows might work well, though she has a small doubt in her mind about this, given that cartoon based shows also attract an under 18 demographic, and do not always run in the evening. This however might raise brand awareness for 'Splash' and 'Fella' for when those under 18 are allowed to legally purchase and consume alcoholic beverages, thereby locking in brand awareness ahead of any other competitor wine or beer brands (or other competitors like West Coast Coolers, Bacardi Breezers, Ruski Lemons, and Vodka Cruisers).

Kaiser and Dakota Smith-Browne remained fairly expressionless when Zara Kiki suggested television and online media for the two new rebranded, repositioned and reimaged products. She felt that this was because they thought it would really stretch the marketing communications budget and would be so unlike anything they had done before with the markcomms, since the establishment of the company and its wine and beer brands five years ago. What Zara felt would really get the owners excited would be the key messaging for 'Splash' and 'Fella'. They already had been given a good sense of the visuals that would appear on the bottles, and the cardboard pack (in the case of 'Fella', the sales promotions in clubs and bars, and outside the selected Liquorland outlets, and also in the ads (for free to air television and YouTube).

But what about the copy? The main copy message (that would be common to both brands) would be the somewhat generic"Fun, Good Friends, Kick On With..."with the 'Splash' or 'Fella' brand name inserted at the end of this main copy line with a smiling Simpsons or South Park character giving a thumbs up below the message, and with the company tagline of"From the House of Chase Wine & Beer"still being used, to not entirely lose associations with Chase Wine & Beer.

The owners Kaiser and Dakota Smith-Browne had listened quietly to all of Zara Kiki's suggestions for the rebranding, the repositioning, the reimaging and the delivery of these through a distinctive marketing communications campaign. They had much to think about in terms of what direction to take Chase Wine & Beer and its brands, either remaining exclusively in the boutique wine and micro-brewery sector with a serious brand image and an upmarket connoisseur demographic, or splitting off two of the brands in the product portfolio to pursue something really different