State laws being what they are, there aren't many individuals responsible for marketing wine and spirits for nearly 160 stores in one large state. And with the growth of large-format stores, boutique wine shops, and thematic wine sellers, marketing will undoubtedly become an increasingly important part of chain wine selling. That's exactly the job Bob Gibson manages for ABC Fine Wines and Spirits stores throughout Florida. ABC recently underwent a marketing renovation that put wine in the forefront of their image, and so we thought it would be worthwhile to check in with Gibson, the company's director of marketing, to see how the program has developed.

Question #1
Adams Beverage Group (ABG): ABC Fine Wine & Spirits recently launched their new branding campaign. What were the campaign's goals?

Bob Gibson: The short answer is that the Wine Country campaign was created to increase our wine sales business, especially in the mid-range price segment—what are sometimes referred to as supermarket wines. But we’d been steadily increasing our wine sales segment for about a decade before we launched this campaign, and we had all the components in place—we had the product selection, we had wine consultants in our larger stores, we had the ability to special order, we had great prices—to be a great place to shop for wine, but a lot of consumers weren’t making the connection between ABC Fine Wine & Spirits and buying wine. And because convenience is a huge factor in where people decide to buy wine, we also needed to help people realize that buying from us was worth making the trip or the extra stop.

Question #2
ABG: What made the company decide to create this new campaign?

Gibson: We had done research that made it clear to us that while there was an immediate connection between our company name—ABC Fine Wine & Spirits—and an image of us as a place for purchasing spirits, there was a disconnect between our company name and an image of us as a place to buy wine. In other words, if you were to ask someone on the street where to buy wine, ABC was not the first name out of that person’s mouth. After nearly 70 years in Florida, the name “ABC Liquors” was firmly in people’s minds as the place to buy spirits. Because wine is a steadily increasing market in the US, and Florida is the 2nd or 3rd largest market in the country, it was clear to us that we needed to change that image in order to really take advantage of the buying trend.

Question #3
ABG: Who was the target for the campaign?

Gibson: Primarily mid-range wine buyers, and women. Again, there was this stereotype of the “liquor store” that we’d been steadily eroding, in the way we’d been remodeling our stores and in store design and product selection, but the stereotype really had the liquor store as sort of the man’s domain, and women are the ones who do most of the shopping for wine. So especially when we were increasing wine sales, we needed to look to a campaign that would appeal to women. And we’d discovered in our research that our biggest competitors for wine sales were supermarkets, because people shop for their groceries and pick up a bottle of wine for dinner at the same time.

Question #4
ABG: What sort of ads did ABC have created?

Gibson: Radio spots, and television ads that focused on the question “what is wine country.” A huge part of the campaign is art—we had a series of vineyard paintings commissioned by a local artist, Larry Moore, and we used those as the backdrop on the television commercials. The art is also used on our outdoor advertising and on our trucks—we created truck wraps that incorporate the art and the Wine Country messages. The art has also made it into all of our direct marketing materials, web site and newspaper ads.

Question #5
ABG: Did you back up the campaign with changes in-store or with staff training?

Gibson: Actually, a large part of the changes came before the campaign. As I said before, we had all these components in place to make us a great wine-buying destination. We had done extensive store remodels, including putting in walk-in wine rooms that are temperature controlled, we’d increased our fine wine selection from a few hundred labels to several thousand, and we had wine consultants who undergo a lot of training and travel to wine areas. So that was all in place before the Wine Country campaign was created. We have made some changes that incorporate the art, creating in-store and external signage, and we have carried the campaign over into other marketing materials—newsletters, etc.

Question #6
ABG: Are you seeing a response from consumers?

Gibson: We’ve has a very positive response. Although most of the campaign’s advertising vehicles have a branding purpose versus direct response, wine sales continue to increase and we get frequent and positive feedback from people who’ve seen our billboards and television spots or heard the radio spots.

Question #7
ABG: Any surprises from the campaign?

Gibson: How versatile it is. We are constantly finding new ways to integrate it and use it company-wide. Also, how wide-spread the interest and response has been. There’s been this interesting ripple effect in terms of who is responding to the campaign and why, and I think that while you always hope for that, it’s still a little bit of a surprise when it actually happens that way.

To see examples of ABC's marketing campaign, visit their website.