How a heritage wine brand created a truly engaging digital marketing program by focusing on social influence
Digital marketing transformation doesn’t always come easily for heritage brands. They have been around for a long time and have generally gained a loyal client base. Often their marketing strategies focus on product quality and craftsmanship. However, in today’s digital age, to remain relevant and attract a younger generation, heritage brands need to move to digital marketing strategies.
Heritage brands have great advantages to leverage in digital marketing, and in particular influencer marketing.
- A long and rich history.
- A sense of nostalgia.
- A unique provenance.
- An expertise or very special savoir-faire.
This gives heritage brands a head start in developing authenticity and trust with their audience - two traits that are very important in digital marketing.
Barone Ricasoli
Barone Ricasoli has been linked to wine since 1141, when Brolio Castle passed into the hands of the Ricasoli family. Baron Bettino Ricasoli was an illustrious politician, researcher and wine entrepreneur. He promoted what is one of the most famous wines in the world today: Chianti.
The brand has built a strong heritage of both quality and innovation. Over the years Barone Ricasoli has gained many fans in Sweden, and it has become the producer’s most important market. But, with an aging customer base and a rapidly changing media landscape, they needed to reach new generations of consumers.
The WineWorld Program
Traackr’s agency partner in Sweden, Pronto, worked closely with the Swedish wine importer WineWorld and the Italian baron Francesco Ricasoli. Together they developed a digital marketing strategy to create a ‘social story’ based on social influence. The program strove to generate online engagement with a younger audience and drive a real connection to the brand, increasing brand awareness and in-store sales.
Influencers are becoming increasingly powerful in the digital marketing landscape, and we wanted to leverage this in the campaign for Barone Ricasoli. The cooperation with the four bloggers, specialized in various segments, generated mentions and impressions in a cost-efficient way, which would have been difficult to achieve otherwise. – Sophia Maule, WineWorld
To make this happen, WineWorld and Pronto created competition for a unique job opportunity at the Baron’s vineyard in Tuscany. The winner would spend a few days at Brolio, the castle that belongs to Barone Ricasoli, to create their very own personal wine. Their personally developed wine would then be sold as a limited edition at Systembolaget in Sweden.
The program used Traackr to involve influencers at each stage of the ‘social story,’ and combined scaled influencer outreach with highly targeted tactics.
The results exceeded expectations. By letting just one person create his own wine, Barone Ricasoli successfully generated brand awareness among a younger audience and reached millions of new customers.
To read the full story how WineWorld and Pronto revitalised the Barone Ricasoli heritage brand through digital marketing strategies, download our case study here.