Brassfield Estate Winery
Brassfield Estate Winery is situated in the High Valley AVA of Lake County, CA. Their vineyards are planted at an altitude matched by only 1% of all the vineyards in the world. Brassfield’s AVA allows them to produce a wide array of varietals, 17 to be exact, and the estate is a stunning retreat from the hustle and bustle of the valley floor.
The winery faced three key challenges:
- Awareness, not only in general, but also of high valley AVA.
- Location is off the beaten track.
- Negative perceptions of Lake County.
![Platinum Site Bug](https://www.wineglassmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Platinum-Site-Bug.jpeg)
2023 AVA Digital Awards
Platinum – Email (single)
![22 Platinum Site Bug](https://www.wineglassmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/22-Platinum-Site-Bug.jpg)
2023 Communicator Awards
Silver – Photography
Brand Strategy
Brassfield had all the traits of a future forward brand. A future forward brand hidden in traditional wine clothing.Everyone we interviewed articulated the same cohesive and consistent story centered on four key pillars: the people of Brassfield, the higher purpose and environmental philosophies, the uniqueness of the land and the product.
The recommended brand strategy centered on bringing to light Brassfield Estate’s contemporary values, purpose and quality, yet affordable, products. The qualities next gen wine consumers seek out (both online and in store) in the brands they support. Brassfield’s brand essence was articulated as “An elevated perspective”.
Creative Brief
Target Audience: Brassfield was fortunate enough to have a solid number of next gen wine drinkers, Millennials, who were attracted to the brand. We leaned into this audience.
Brand Pillars: There were 4 pillars to support the brand essence, each with numerous support points:
- The Place:
- Family-owned estate
- Unique property
- High elevation – 1%
- Transverse valley
- Precision farming
- Wildlife preservation
- The People:
- Taking care of employees and allowing them to find their talent
- Giving them a chance to grow
- Long-term commitment
- Loyalty and trust
- The Purpose:
- Preservation, conservation and rejuvenation
- Sustainable conscientiousness that ensures our future
- Lifting people up
- Do good and do well
- The Product:
- Estate grown – never leaves our hands
- 17 varietals, one for every taste
- Sustainably farmed, premium grapes
- Value/everyday pricing — no land costs
Brand Persona: Charismatic, Empathetic, Compassionate, Accountable, Honest, Self-Reliant.
Creating An Authentic Brand
We translated an elevated perspective to the tagline “Above and Beyond”: above and beyond Napa, traditional wine culture and mores, going above and beyond for the people of Brassfield, the land, the environment and the wildlife.
Then we set about applying the brand strategy across every platform.
The website architecture and design was simplified. The new design uses large images and short copy, color blocked for ease of navigation.
We developed integrated campaigns, across all social and advertising platforms, with a consistent voice, look and feel. The objective of each campaign was to demonstrate how Brassfield goes “Above and Beyond” and used the brand pillars to create the messaging and content for each campaign.
Finally, we tracked results to better understand which pillar(s) resonate most with the Millennial audience to drive sales and build brand loyalty.
Results
In 2023, Brassfield saw its Instagram organic reach, ad reach and engagements double (Instagram attracts a younger audience than Facebook) and its Facebook organic reach double and ad reach grow by +40% and engagements grow by +15%.
These results come in a year where Hootsuite reports the Food & Beverage Category is seeing an average decrease in audience of close to -5% in Q4 alone.
And finally, website sales grew +19% versus previous year, butting the trend reported by WineDirect of a platform-wide 10% decrease in sales.