Project Marketing France: Concept Paper

Developed by: Renato Elenes, Stanislav Baciu, Felix Neuhaus, Dudley Fairbrass.

Task:
In our Marketing Project France seminar we had the task to create, develop and present a marketing
strategy for the winery Edmond de Rothschild. The aim of the strategy was to push 5 of Rothschild’s
wines into the gastronomy market in Germany, thereby expanding their customer database and
increasing the range of products sold to existing customers. A budget of 50,000 € was allocated to
cover the costs of activities required to implement the strategy.

The Strategy:

To use multiple, established, organized public events, alongside pre and post event
activities, in order to advertise and present Rothschild products (5 Wines). A selective
S group of on-trade members will be targeted in an attempt to convert them into
customers or to increase the range of our products they possess.

Success would be measured as a percentage of on-trade members which participated

M over those which became customers. 20% = Success.

The strategy can be achieved through:

Research, evaluate the German market to understand Germany’s situation towards

wine.

Research, identify the Brand values of Edmond de Rothschild.

Identifying which on-trade members would be suitable to target and how and for what
reasons they could be segmented.

Determine roughly the overall costs and how this relates to our budget in order to
A understand which events and activities would be realistic to apply.

Select, create, develop and implement social media platforms to increase brand,
product, and event awareness.

Research, evaluate, select and participate in various gastronomy events spread out
throughout Germany.

Develop realistic methods of approaching each segmented group after the event in
order to follow up on their views and attempt to convert them into new customers or
increase their range of products sold to existing customers

This project is relevant because it is in Rothschild’s interest to gain new customers within
R the German Market, one the biggest importers of wine in terms of value.

T Sales made end of July.

The German Market:
We asked ourselves what was happening within the German market that might influence or support
our Marketing strategies:

According to the “OIV 2017 report on the world vitivinicultural situation” and the Deutsches
Weininstitut report “2017/2018 Deutscher Wein Statistik”, the following statistics are true:

 Germany is the third biggest importer of wine in the world (in terms of value) (2.5b€) ↑
 Germany is the number one importer of wine in the world (in terms of volume) (14.5mhl) ↓
 Germany is the fourth biggest consumer of wine in the world (8.1%) ↓
 France is the second biggest wine import country for Germany (in terms of Value) (671m€)↓
 France is the third biggest wine import country for Germany (in terms of volume) (2.1mhl)↓
 France is the third biggest wine exporter in the world (in terms of volume) (14.1mhl) ↓
 France is the number one wine exporter in the world (in terms of value) (8.2b€) ↑
 French wines are the third most consumed wines in Germany

These statistics show us that:

German consumers are very interested in wines from foreign lands as shown by their import status in
both value and volume. They show us that German wine consumption in general is high as shown by
their consumption ranking. French wines hold a particular importance for wine consumers in Germany
as shown by the position of French wines as imports into Germany, in terms of value and volume, and
there consumption ranking.

Germany continues to increase the amount of annual imports in terms of value showing a healthy
demand for the foreign wines. France continues to increase the amount of annual exports in terms of
value showing a healthy worldwide demand for French Wines.

Internationally France holds a strong position in the wine industry, as present in there rankings of
exports in terms of both value and volume.

Brand Values:
In determining how to present our brand and products we researched what else Edmond de
Rothschild has outside of the 5 wines.

Edmond de Rothschild business include:

 Wineries in France (Bordeaux), New Zealand (Marlborough), South Africa (Franschhoek),

Argentina (Mendoza).
 Partnerships within the wine market including ‘Champagne Baron De Rothschild’ (Champagne)
and ‘Macan Clasico’, Macan (Rioja).
 Hotels including ‘The Domaine Du Mont D’Arbois’ and ‘The D’Arbois Hotels’.
 Restaurants including ‘The Mont D’Arbois Resturants’ and ‘le 1920’.
 Business/assets related to nature including ‘The compagnie Fermiere’, ‘The Pepinieres De
L’Ambre’ (rare plant nurseries), Gardens for each Edmond de Rothschild properties, ‘The
Beehives’ (honey production).
These businesses present certain qualities of Edmond de Rothschild which could be used to persuade
potential customers to partake in trade with us, such as:

 That we are reliable, professional and successful.

 That we are innovators, focused on expanding and have a keen knowledge of trends and
interest around the globe.
 That we are more than just wine, that we can offer other potential opportunities and products
through our broad network businesses.

Segmentation:
After researching the market, we came to the following conclusions with the help of Thomas Porsch
from Weingut Trenz:

 That high priced premium wines only make a small portion of the German on-trade market
and are there for a difficult market to penetrate.
 That restaurants and hotel who already have an established premium wine assortment may
need a large amount of incentive to change their wine list. This is because they may not wish
to replace their familiar and trusted relationships with their products and the businesses
associated to them with products and business which they are not.
 That often a ‘door opener’ strategy is implemented to persuade businesses to purchase from
unfamiliar companies.
o The door opener strategy:
To allow a customer to become familiar with a business, by first offering them
something at the cheaper end of the scale. Once a trust and confidence between each
party has been established, higher priced, premium products can be presented.
 That existing customers are already familiar with a portion of our products and with the way
in which we do business, therefor do not need ‘door opener’.

Knowing this, we segmented our target audience in the following manner:

 Segment A – Existing, Active Customers. This segment receives the majority of our attention
prior to the event, they are the priority. We want to focus on renewing good faith between
our two businesses by showing them that we know who they are. We can then introduce to
them further products within our range and negotiate moves for the future.

 Segment B – Existing, Non-Active Customers. This segment receives an almost equal amount
of our attention prior to the event. We want to remind them of who we are and see if
anything specific got in the way of our doing business together.

 Segment C – New Customer. This segment does not receive as much attention from us prior
to the event. Potential new customers will receive a different approach from us than the
other two segments. More resources will be placed on them after the event, as they will
require higher incentives in the form of further service and additional value.

Communication:
We decided on the following based around the different approaches we should take towards
creating interest and providing incentives for the customer groups defined through the
segmentation process. We will address each of the customer groups in a personalized and
different way, as well as providing them different incentives and call to actions:
  Customer Group A - customers from this group will receive an e-mail, in which we will
let them know about our presence at the event. They will also be offered a free ticket
to the event, besides that they will receive a free bottle of Baron Edmond de
Rothschild wines if they will approach our stand at the event.

 Customer Group B - customers from this group will receive an e-mail, in which we let
them know about our presence at the event. They will be offered a free ticket to the
event, besides that they will be able to get a free wine glass at our stand at the event.

 Customer Group C - customers from this group will be informed about our presence at
the event. They will also receive a short introduction to Baron Edmond de Rothschild
products and an invitation to visit our stand at the event if they will be there. No other
pre-event incentives will be offered to the customers from this group. Instead, these
customers will receive a big post-event attention.

To create awareness and additional value towards our product, we researched and evaluated different
platforms to use and came up with the following reasons for using them:

 That social media can be used to increase brand, product and event awareness.
 That through this awareness additional value can be created to persuade our target audience.
 That social media is a good platform due to the low costs and precise targeting possibilities.

The following steps can be taken to implement our Social media activities towards increasing brand
awareness, and the benefits which we could potentially gain:

1. Create official Baron Edmond de Rothschild profiles on Instagram and Facebook.

2. Fill the pages with high-quality content (photos, videos, posts)
3. Increase the audience to 10.000 followers / subscribers by using native Instagram and
Facebook ads and paid posts by influencers in the niche.
4. (on-going) - At this point the social media pages will become assets which could be used for
promoting company’s products, events and brand values.

The following steps can be taken to implement our Social media activities towards increasing product
awareness, and the benefits which we could potentially gain:

1. On the already existing pages on Facebook and Instagram, post photos, videos and reviews of
the 5 wines we have to promote. In each post, indicate the places (restaurants, hotels) where
people can enjoy these wines. Create additional value by giving the followers special discount
codes (e.g. #instarothschild = 5% discount)
2. Buy posts on influencers’ pages from gastronomy niche. In these posts they will review the 5
wines and encourage their audience to visit Baron Edmond de Rothschild’s pages on social
media in order to get the discount codes and locations where they can taste them.

The following steps can be taken to implement our Social media activities towards increasing event
awareness, and the benefits which we could potentially gain:

1. Share event information, use influencers within our target group to be promoted on their
pages, as well as ideally be announced by the events’ official profile
The Events:
After looking at the various events we could participate in and considering whether they would be
practical to use, we came up with the following conclusions:

 That Prowein would have too much competition to make it worthwhile.

 That creating events would be too costly and risky.
 That targeting on-trade events would produce good returns due to less competition and the
amount of on-trade members attending.

We decided on the following on-trade events for the reasons above:

 INTERNOGA in Hamburg.
 INTERGASTRA in Stuttgart.
 And other smaller fairs around Germany helping to broaden the scope of our attempts.

Our attendance at the events will be conducted in the following way:

 Set up a stand where we will sell and promote the wines.

 Acquire monitors to display images of the winery, vineyards and the Rothschild family to
create an attractive image for the customers.
 Existing customers will receive an invitation with a free ticket as well as free wine offering
should they approach us at the event.
 Non-active customers will receive and invitation with a free ticket as well as a free wine glass
should they approach us at the event.
 Potential customers will receive an invitation simply asking them to approach us at the event
to meet each other.

Other activities will be applied at the event to increase the effectiveness of our strategy including:

Color scheme idea:

 A study done in the Institution for Psychology at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz
in cooperation with the German winery “Allendorf” by Dr. Daniel Oberfeld-Twistel, Franziska J.
Baldauf and Prof. Dr. Heiko Hecht showed that colors have an influence in the taste pallet of
people. Green light supports the taste of apple, grass and citrus. White makes a beverage
taste neutral and watery. Blue is perceived by the majority of the western European society as
very pleasant. Red increases the sweetness perception and when a product is displayed under
red light, the customer is willing to pay 1,5 times as much compared to when it’s under a
green spotlight. The final hypothesis is that colors don’t change the taste of a product, they
simply underline certain taste characteristics which can have an effect on the buying decision
of the customer.

T-shirt scheme idea:

 To have students at the event wearing a t-shirt that matches the Edmond de Rothschild color
pallet have talks with the visitors of the event. Have them have small-talks that leave a
positive impression on the other person. When they walk past our stand they will
subconsciously relate that nice talk that they just had to the winery making them want to buy
our products.

Additional ideas:

 Classical music playing at the stand supports our status as an upper class winery.
  Organizing a tasting at the event lures customers to our stand, which makes it crowded, the
fact that it is crowded also attracts the attention of other customers.
 Invite certain interesting or important customers after to event to have a drink at the stand in
order to create a good relationship with them.

Post-event consumer follow up:

Following the event the different segments of our target group will be approached in the following
manner:

Segment A:
 A survey via email to gather their opinion about our stand at the event as well as to attempt to
make the sale of the wines with the following questions:

a) Did you visit us at the event?

If they answer no this will be the end of the survey, if they answer yes then they will continue
with the following.
b) How satisfied were you with our stand at the event?
c) Did you enjoy the wines provided by Edmond de Rothschild?
d) What wine did you enjoy the most?
With this question we figure out with which type of wine to approach them first.
e) Are you interested in acquiring one of these wines for your business to sell?
If they answer yes they will have an option to select which wines they want to buy as well as
the quantity. If the answer is no then we will offer them another product first and after a few
months we will offer them the 5 core wines again.

Segment B:
 The same survey as we did to segment A with one additional question which is.

a. Why have you been inactive for the past year?

Segment C:
 Arrange a visit at their place of business to make the sale or a tasting to create a positive
working relationship.

Social media follow up:

Social media activity will be continued after the event to continue creating and maintaining
awareness, the following steps will be taken:
 Follow up social media pages by searching hashtags related to the event and Rothschild to see
what the public opinion is.
 Upload best pictures, pictures with our best clients taken by the photographer, as well as
pictures taken by visitors with their permission in order to elevate the value that Edmond de
Rothschild has for them.

Hypothesis:
We conclude that if everything goes according to plan and the performance is good during the
gastronomy events, specifically INTERNOGA and INTERGASTRA, we may acquire from 50 up to 100
new clients. However, success for us will be if we have a conversion rate of 20% during the events
from non-existing/inactive customers to active customers.
Budget overview:

We were given a budget of 50 000 €, which we spent on the following things.

Budget 50,000€

Brand value 0€

Communication 5,000€

Events 26,441€

Post-event 500€

X amount of wines x€

Total spending 31,941€