23 Mar 2015 KWV repositions with new trademark marketing campaign
KWV has a long tradition of crafting some of the finest wines and brandies in the world. This is the company’s first consumer brand campaign that stretches across wine and spirits to “deliver a bold distinctive brand message”.
Tyrone Beck, creative director at KWV’s ad agency, Saatchi & Saatchi Brandsrock, says: “This is a tribute to the great legacy of KWV, but also demonstrates that by standing on the shoulders of giants, we are inspired to aim higher, to reach even greater heights and inevitably ‘Finish Great’.
“The heart of KWV is Proud Pioneers brought to life through the spirit of: respecting tradition while challenging convention and through persistence character is revealed. We are telling this story through the campaign theme of ‘On the shoulders of giants’.”
Beck continues: “Giants have stature, they are larger than life and undeniably impressive. We revere them and in South Africa, KWV is a giant, it’s a brand that has a 97 year-old history and credible credentials to support such a bold statement.
Beck says that the integrated campaign includes the brands first-ever television commercial, amplification via a full PR rollout, experiential activations, iconic out of home billboards, point-of-sale and in-store promotions.
He admits that the task was not easy. “The alcohol marketplace is extremely cluttered, with premium liquor brands playing heavily in the world of inspiration,” he says. “Therefore, we strived to achieve a well-considered and creatively consistent visual theme to work across all touch points and to be the foundation for a bold and distinctive message.”
Brand re-awakening
Says KWV’s head of strategy, Peadar Hegarty: “We believe this, our first brand trademark campaign, is a campaign worthy of KWV’s pioneering spirit and we are truly excited to deliver this to the world,” he says. “It’s about reawakening the brand spirit through connectivity, innovation, and sustainability and by continuing to produce award-winning wines and spirits.”
Hegarty adds that this trademark campaign is not only consumer facing. “From a business perspective, the company is switching distribution strategies in a number of global markets and we are working hard to adapt our product offerings to suit the needs of specific markets as well as channel management strategies, ultimately enabling us as a company to continue to Finish Great.”
In recent years KWV has transformed itself into a global commercial player, exporting award-winning wines and brandies from its main cellar complex in Paarl all over the world.
“We distribute our brands in over 100 markets globally, with some of our brands having been available in these markets as far back as the 1920’s,” he adds.
With one of the largest production capacities of wine and spirits in the southern hemisphere as well as being chosen as a distribution partner for some of the world’s most iconic spirits – most recently, Stolichnaya Vodka, Hegarty says, this demonstrates how the company is transforming itself to compete against other brands.
Through an extensive business strategy and market positioning, KWV has been recognised for producing some of the world’s best wines and brandies.
“Our attainment of globally recognised awards is testament to this. In the last four years we have won over 858 awards of which 307 were achieved in the past year alone,” he says.
“We are constantly improving our products to push the boundaries, being at the forefront of winemaking and brandy making innovation and demonstrating great attention to detail and balance.”
In recent months KWV has launched the world’s first ‘natural’ Pinotage – Earth’s Essence, made possible by utilising a world first technology; the launch of KWV Heritage XO, SA’s first Cognac brand; and the launch of Nexus, the world’s first 30-year old commercially available potstill brandy.
Related reading:
KWV launches world first ‘natural’ Pinotage using patented preservation technology
Two SA luxury brandy firsts from KWV
Watch the first KWV TV commercial here: