The California Wine Institute has launched its first-ever brand campaign in the UK in a paid for partnership Guardian to bring California’s sunny, laid-back lifestyle to British consumers at the height of winter. The campaign taps into the Guardian’s authority as a cultural platform, and uses content and display, across food, drink and travel environments, including Feast magazine.
Bountiful Cow led the UK audience strategy, as well as the creative and media approach in conjunction with Guardian Labs which, encourages UK wine lovers to embrace the Golden State mindset when they might desire it most, in the depths of the grey British winter.
The media strategy shuns category norms and runs across the winter months when most wine brands go quiet. Instead, it uses the New Year as a moment of renewal, when audiences are more likely to explore new tastes, travel ideas and lifestyle inspiration.
The media is structured in two distinct bursts. The first, leads with the Guardian Labs content series and runs through to the end of February focusing on cultural relevance with focused lifestyle content and shifting perception of California culture. It is accompanied by audio ads which run across the Guardian’s podcast network, and a broader podcast outreach including host reads, on Alan Carr’s Bottoms Up wine tasting podcast series.
The second burst of activity, in March and April, builds in scale, adding in YouTube content with in-store activation, connecting inspiration directly with purchase.
Honore Comfort, Vice President of International Marketing at California Wine Institute, said:
“We want to make California wines feel more culturally relevant and approachable for UK wine drinkers. To help boost consideration we are leaning into California as a lifestyle and a state of mind – warm, optimistic and relaxed. This can create a more distinctive and emotionally engaging position in a category that tends to be product and varietal led.”
Adam Foley, CEO at Bountiful Cow, added:
“This campaign deliberately avoids the category playbook to deliver Relative Advantage and cut through in both the creative and media execution. Instead of starting with wine, it starts with mindset. By using California’s cultural equity as the entry point, we can build desire, relevance and permission before driving consideration and purchase.”
