Strategic frameworks around brand building are more important now than ever before. The questions you ask are more important than the answers. You must build your brand with strategy, not tactics.
As a spirits, wine, or beer brand owner or supplier, you need to pivot in today’s marketplace. The six-paths framework from Blue Ocean Strategy will be helpful in your product and market development.
“Note the objective is to adopt trends and then ultimately SHAPE them.“
In looking at trends across time let us first qualify what constitutes a trend.
- A trend will significantly shape what buyers value over time.
- A trend is irreversible. Once the shift takes place, there is no turning back.
- A trend shows a clear trajectory up or down.
I’ve identified the three biggest marketing and sales trends in the sampling and activation of alcohol brands.
TREND ONE – Experiential Sampling and Tasting. Virtual Needs Improvement
Brands are adopting unexpected sampling experiences for consumer entertainment and pleasure.
Realizing that consumer loyalty requires more than just unique flavors and packaging, alcohol brands are turning to new places. There are bar and store features that integrate media, technology and other interactions as a way to add a one-of-a-kind experience to traditionally routine activities.
Update 7/2020: The experiential marketing once touted as cutting edge is no longer taking place.
At this moment, there are attempts to create virtual experiences but these are woefully lacking in their entertainment and social engagement value. What might the future bring?
Industry Affected in This Way:
Experiential sampling is a rage and a trend.
It has proven to influence buyers and there is no going back to solely using in-store sampling once the train had left the station.
Sampling has become more expensive and the stakes are high.
With higher costs comes higher risk and small brands are oftentimes unable to adopt.
How Shared Spirits is Innovating in the Area:
Shared Spirits has technology and methods to inexpensively target potential customers. Liquid to Lips Marketing seeks to weave in an experience unlike any other promotion.
With our campaign management software, merchant partnerships, and work with technology.
Liquid to Lips Marketing can deliver experiential type tasting experiences for far less money while delivering better intel and activation metrics than ever before.
TREND TWO – Technology and App Driven Intel and Marketing
In today’s advertising world, targeted audiences may be found a number of ways. Agencies may use geo-fencing, phone IP targeting, and cross-platform marketing.
App developers and owners, like Shared Spirits, know who bought your product and target them to buy again.
Industry Affected in This Way:
Entities like Cardlytics and other point-of-sale data-driven firms are able to deliver actionable data to brands allowing them to target specific consumers.
Liquid to Lips Marketing tech allows for the near-instant gathering of intel from mobile handsets.
These mobile users have visited specific stores or bars.
We help deliver targeted messages via a variety of advertising.
These methods will soon dominate the way smart alcohol advertising takes place.
Uber buys Drizly
Drizly is effectively an online delivery storefront for existing local liquor stores. The company partners with local sellers and then enlists delivery drivers — similar to Uber Eats — to handle the delivery. The service is now available in over 1,400 cities across the United States.
How Shared Spirits is Innovating in the Area:
By delivering consumers exactly what they want based on what they’ve bought and where they’ve visited, brands and suppliers in the spirits, wine, and beer space are more likely to make marketing spends appropriately.
Shared Spirits may open up unprecedented utility for customers by integrating drink and coupon offers that are immediately measurable and relevant.
TREND THREE – Alcohol Delivery via App or Web Order
The move toward being able to order and have delivered alcohol by the bottle is a growing trend.
Huge adoption has not yet occurred. The trend will grow thanks to growth in more uniform legislation and adoption across states and municipalities.
Consumers want the service and are willing to pay premiums and trade data that is obtained for the convenience.
Liquid to Lips Marketing is integrating bottle delivery with “entertainment” experiences over the web.
Industry Affected in This Way:
Alcohol delivery via direct mail and via mobile app ordering is impacting the industry. Online sales of beer, liquor and wine for delivery grew 32.7% in 2017, according to Slice.
By far the most popular kind of adult beverage bought on the web is wine. Wine represented more than 65% of online alcohol sales during the 25-month period from Jan. 1, 2016 to Jan. 31, 2018. According to Slice, that was followed by spirits, at 21.2%, and beer, 13.8%.
How Shared Spirits is Innovating in the Area:
Our tech is the first mobile technology attached to a campaign management system that marries marketing spends with retail, on-premise, sampling, activations, virtual events, and ambassador marketing.
In addition, it’s the first marketing method where depletion targets are integrated into business model itself.
Discuss your brand’s goals with us. We love having conversations. No strings attached! Bring your ideas to the chat! Schedule here!
Sources:
https://www.trendhunter.com/protrends/experiential-sampling
https://www.ibisworld.com/industry-trends/specialized-market-research-reports/online-retail/food-beverage-sales/online-beer-wine-liquor-sales.html
