By James Wells
Kingston Estate has unveiled a new wine label targeting emerging wine consumers. Kingston Estate managing director and winemaker Bill Moularadellis, told TheShout the Mo Sisters label has been inspired by his three daughters and is designed to appeal to new entrants to the wine category.
“There is a new crop of people turning 18 every day and you have to be talking to them in their language. This is a new generation of wine consumers and it is changing every day. They have discretion and choice over what they do with their disposable income and wine is part of that choice and if you are engaging – we believe you will have some success.
“If you keep offering what was being served up for their parents, they will walk by and totally ignore it. You need to remember that the new people who are about to buy your wine not have been buying your wine before.”
Moularadellis said that he has gleaned a lot of information from talking with millennials about their thoughts on wine.
“You just have to be able to engage with the people that you are targeting, and ask them very direct questions and you know what – they tell you what works and what doesn’t. You then have to listen and engage and bring it to life.
“Mo Sisters features imagery and a perception that is embraced by these people who are becoming adults which is important because wine is not something that they will naturally gravitate to. Integrity is something that is important to this demographic – and we have understood that the wine has to be ‘real’ and have to have an element of ‘truth’.
“There is a tendency for many people to try and engage with an emerging consumer in a way that is quite superficial and asking them to buy something because they should. But you need to turn it the other way and actually listen to what those people are wanting and that is a difficult thing. We have found that if you ask these emerging consumers very direct questions and listen carefully – you get the answers,” Moularadellis said.
“This is a natural progression for Kingston Estate – we have historically targeted the conservative and traditional market, but the proportion of the population that is attracted to that is decreasing. So we took the decision to re-engage and we realise that sometimes you need to take a step back. You are not able to create something new by looking in the rear-vision mirror and by looking backwards. The products that are going to be successful in the future are not out there yet and so therefore we all need to try a few things.
“Our message to retailers is that there will be new products that will be offered to you – try them – put them out there and give them the attention and respect they deserve. Millennials are not silly and they do look for quality as well as style and substance and you have to have a deep understanding of what they are looking for. You have to put products on the shelf that are going to appeal to them and they will pick them up.
“You have to have conversations through your products and ranging – and sometimes you have to be a bit bold and sometimes things aren’t going to work. Keep trying, as these young people are not going away and they are our future. It is not only storytelling, it is about selling something with substance – it has to have depth in many layers and it has got to be true. If you tick those boxes and you have half a chance – you may not necessarily be successful, but you have half a chance.”