Riverland Wine
Case Study
Purple Giraffe can deliver a fully integrated marketing strategy, with a clear understanding of how to engage with your target audience to achieve the results you need.
Project Overview: Riverland Uprising Program 2022
In early 2022 Riverland Wine created Riverland Uprising, an industry-led domestic and international program aimed at building the reputation of the Riverland as a leading producer of quality, exciting, innovative and sustainable GI wines.
As part of the program, Riverland Wine commissioned a series of stories written by renowned wine writer Katie Spain and portrait photographs by international award-winning wine and travel photographer Matt Wilson, capturing the unique personalities and brand stories from the winery participants.
Riverland Wine approached Purple Giraffe to assist them with the following components of the program for 2022:
- Branding – creating a logo and visual style for the Riverland Uprising program
- Workshop – supporting the facilitation of a workshop for the program participants that provided them with market insights, tools and resources to build their sales capabilities
- Showcase – manage the creation of a tasting Showcase event in Adelaide, aimed at key trade and media, where winery participants could showcase their wines to this audience and make them think differently about Riverland GI wines
- Develop a PR and social media strategy to leverage the photography and stories of the winery participants that Riverland Wine had commissioned, to amplify the message and generate broader awareness and engagement
Branding Development
A logo and brand identity needed to be developed for the Riverland Uprising program, which could support the program activities but that also complemented the existing Riverland Wine logo.
Purple Giraffe’s brief was to develop a logo and visual style for Riverland Uprising program, for use across all projects that were done under the Riverland Uprising banner in 2022 and future years.
Outcomes:
- Purple Giraffe completed logo development work within 4 weeks to allow for it to be utilised across assets in the leadup to the Workshop in June.
- Purple Giraffe then created a visual style and collateral for the Riverland Uprising program including pull up banners, booklets, social media assets
Producer Workshop
In June 2022 an expert-led, commissioned workshop was held for Riverland region wine producers.
The remit for Purple Giraffe included:
- Sourcing the venue
- Assisting with logistics for the day
- Coordinating speaker presentations
- Managing invitations and RSVPs
- Post-event survey and reporting
Outcomes:
- Held at the Loxton Hotel, the expert-led workshop had 35 attendees
- 9 industry presenters were involved from Riverland Wine, Department of Trade and Investment, Australian Grape and Wine, Fullglass Management, and Wine Australia
- 100% of respondents said it gave them a greater understanding of global wine markets, wine industry trends, and supply and demand understanding
- 75% of those who attended the workshop said would like to see more Riverland Uprising Workshops in the future
Showcase Event
The Riverland Uprising Showcase was held at the Exeter Hotel in August 2022. This was an education-themed tasting, showcasing the Riverland GI wines from participating wineries to key South Australian trade, media, and industry.
The objective of the event was to increase the attendees’ knowledge of Riverland brands, stories, and wines, improve the perception of the quality and diversity of Riverland GI wines, and overall result in the attendees think differently about Riverland GI wines.
The remit for Purple Giraffe included:
- Sourcing the venue
- Assisting with logistics for the day
- Managing AV requirements and event photographer
- Sourcing a Sommelier to hold a series of Feature Wine Sessions at the event, and assistance with developing themes and wines for these Sessions
- Co-ordinating requirements from attending wineries
- Developing all marketing collateral
- Event social media and PR
- Managing invitations and RSVPs
- Post-event survey and reporting
Outcomes:
- 13 wineries participated in the Showcase, with over 60 wines available for tasting
- Over 30 key South Australian trade, media and industry attended the event
- Photographs of the producers commissioned by Matt Wilson were enlarged and displayed around the event, to bring to life the personality of the winemakers and help create an engaging atmosphere
- Feature Wine Sessions were held throughout the afternoon hosted by gave attendees an opportunity to delve more deeply into key topics with James Boden, Head Sommelier National Wine Centre, with topics including organics and biodynamics, alternate varieties, old favourites, and new wave styles
- A Tasting Note booklet was developed which included featured winemaker photographs, snippets of the wine stories and detailed tasting notes of the wines presented at the event
- An official event photographer was engaged to capture images from the event for use on social media, websites (including Riverland Wine’s) and to accompany media releases or provided for articles
- Survey responses indicated that 100% of winery participants felt the showcase helped to improve the guest’s knowledge and perceptions of Riverland wine
- Attendee Feedback included: “I was utterly blown away by the new styles coming from the region. It was a revelation….. well done for highlighting this important and exciting new direction for the Riverland region.” “Great to see so much diversity and quality from the Riverland, presented in a professional and interesting manner”
- In a post event survey, over 65% of respondents indicated they have learnt more about Riverland brands, stories, and wines. 86% of respondents said the Showcase improved their perception of the quality of Riverland wines. 93% of respondents said the Showcase improved their perception of the diversity of Riverland wines
- The Riverland Uprising Showcase was a finalist in the 2022 Wine Communicator Awards for Best Wine-Themed Event
PR & Social Media Strategy
To help generate interest and awareness of the Riverland Uprising program, Purple Giraffe created a strategy generating earned media for Riverland Wine and participating wineries through distribution of a press release and encouraging media attendance at the showcase event.
Outcomes:
- Purple Giraffe developed a social media campaign which showcased each Riverland Uprising participant through social media posts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn
- Press release highlighting the stories and articles written by Purple Giraffe in July 2022 and distribution nationally, which had an open rate of 36% (well above industry average of 15% according to Medianet) and resulted in 5 online publications
- Social media statistics over the period of the campaign included a net audience growth of 9.4% and total engagement growth of +352%
Hear what Riverland Wine’s Lyndall Rowe has to say about working with Purple Giraffe here.
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