The second and final day of the Australian Wine Industry Outlook Conference is underway following yesterday’s opening sessions during which ‘unity’ and innovation’ were the buzzwords.
Paul Evans, Winemaker’s Federation of Australia (WFA) chief executive, opened the conference by declaring it would have a shameless focus on profitability, but welcomed, and expected, rigorous debate.
Martin Hamilton-Smith, the South Australian Investment and Trade Minister, praised the theme of the event ‘taking charge of our future’. “It’s a great theme, as an industry you need to move out in front and take the lead,” Hamilton-Smith said. “You have the answers in your own hands.”
Senator Anne Ruston, who is based in Renmark, South Australia, was the first to pick up on unity. She said the industry needs to speak up with a common voice to get the best response from government, using the tax on wine as an example where unity was needed.
“The Coalition Government has no appetite to change to a volumetric tax. It is not motivated in any way to change it. In fact, the only way that will happen is if you as an industry, speaking with one voice, seek for it to be changed. If you want government to retain the ad valorem tax I can’t emphasise enough the need for you to be united in communicating that message to it. If government sees a division they’ll often make decisions that no one likes,” Ruston said.
She also called for the industry to have a frank and open discussion on how to capitalise on the opportunities currently before it.
Tony D’Aloisio, WFA president, may have set a new world record for the amount of times ‘unity’ and ‘united voice’ have been used in a single, 20-minute speech.
His theme was clear.
“We need to present a united, positioning voice.” D’Aloisio said. “There is now clear evidence that unity is achieving results.”
But he couldn’t be accused of sugar-coating.
“I’m not saying there’s total unity, or no disagreement, but there is a growing spirit of putting the interests of the whole industry ahead of sectional or personal interests.
“There was unity from industry on recommendations for the AGWA board, all of us expected the process to be followed, but it wasn’t. The minister rejected the nominations. However, we have a board and we are getting on with the job of supporting the board as it tackles a significant workload.
“Unity is delivering results, there is evidence of that. But yes, we can and have to work together better. Our challenge is to build industry unity further.”
Lulie Halstead, Wine Intelligence chief executive officer, was the first keynote speaker for the event tackling ‘the demand opportunity… anticipating consumer trends in key markets’.
She set out her ideas with four ‘F’ words in mind… fusion, feelgood, freehold and fit… and challenged the industry to tackle its challenges with another ‘F’… frontier mentality.
“I remember what the Australian wine industry was doing 20 years ago and how excited we were about it, I remember the trade missions that caught everyone in the excitement,” Halstead said. “There was a willingness to break the rules. That’s what Australia can do. Don’t be afraid to stand out from the crowd. Make a stand in what you believe in. Test the boundaries.”
Matt Jones, Better Happy director and creative strategist, who was the second keynote speaker of the day tackled ‘the cultural drivers behind future marketing needs – how to get ahead of the curve’.
Jones admitted to being fascinated by culture and how brands fit within it.
“But the world is changing, technology is turning culture on its head. And the competition for attention means everyone is now in the entertainment game,” he said.
The good news, according to Jones, is that people want to find authenticity, make connections, and value heritage. “People want to see behind the scenes, that’s what they’re interested in. Lots of our wine brands have the depth, but they need to catch up on intimacy in the modern complex communication channels.”
A series of workshops offered those attending some choice in which content they engaged with across the afternoon sessions. The first choice was between ‘priorities for brand Australia’ or ‘marketing innovation across social media and the cellar door’.
Angela Slade, regional director of North America for the Australian Grape & Wine Authority (AGWA), Lulie Halstead, chief executive of Wine Intelligence, and Mike Brown, chief winemaker for Gemtree Wines, made up the panel for the former workshop, which was moderated by Aaron Brasher, regional director, Australia, Asia and emerging markets for AGWA.
Following an overview by Brasher of Australia’s four key markets – the US, UK, Canada and China – and our current performance within them, the panelists then drew on their market experience to discuss the opportunities that existed for Australian wine in each of them.
Slade said despite evidence of excitement about Australian wine in the US, the gatekeepers in that country were reporting they weren’t being exposed enough to Australian wine, particularly at the fine wine end.
She said the recent decline in the demand for Australian wine in the US was not a reflection of strong consumer negativity about our products. Rather, she suggested perhaps the Australian offering in the US market had become too stagnant at certain price points for the fast-changing preferences of US wine consumers.
Slade said it was important that representatives of Australian wineries wear out their shoe leather in visiting the market to tell their regional, premium, fine wine stories, adding that American consumers were interested in products that were innovative and vibrant.
“Have a sense of creativity – Australia has done that before and we can do it again,” she said.
Slade said the on-premise market presented a significant opportunity for Australian wine and was currently a focus of AGWA’s marketing efforts in the market.
“Canada has an elevated approach to food and wine compared with the US and Australian wine has a natural affinity with that and we haven’t developed enough programs there lately but I don’t think it will take much for restaurateurs to get excited,” she said.
Asked to offer advice on how Australia can improve its performance in the UK market in the long term, Lulie Halstead said she would encourage companies at the value end of the market to come up with innovative products.
“If you’re operating at the value end of the market, think about things that excite people who just want a beverage that they just like the label of. This won’t damage the premium end of the market if it’s done in a relevant way,” she said.
At the premium end of the market she suggested wine companies change the way they communicate to the market about their wine.
“I wouldn’t even use the words ‘fine wine’. I don’t think the term is relevant to consumers today, and it’s not relevant for Australia. There are much more relevant ways to communicate with markets and bring to life what you do rather than just say you’re from a trendy region or you have a particular soil – most people don’t give a crap. What they care about is what you’re offering is cool, interesting and whether it feels like a treat or reward; if it does then that works.”
Mike Brown stressed the need for Australia to put its best foot forward in China, and the need to invest the time and energy to educate the market about Australia’s premium wines.
“Australia is currently perceived as offering both value wines and fine wine so if we invest the time and energy to educate the market about what Australian wine is about we’ll capture a fantastic audience for our premium products,” he said.
Angie Bradbury, Dig + Fish and Stuart Gregor, Liquid Ideas led a lively session that seemed to sway off topic as much at the push of the presenters as the pull of the participants. Gregor asked all the producers to consider what they were going to do to “capture attention and engage with people when you do”. Bradbury pleaded for people to do thing differently, to innovate, not copy from others.
The second round of workshops offered up ‘what’s the size of the export prize’ or ‘get the most out of domestic retail’.
In exploring the size of the export prize, Yalumba’s Robert Hill Smith, as moderator, led a ‘what if’ discussion which centred around Australia increasing its position on the list of major importers in all its four key markets by one place – growth which Hill Smith said would generate an extra 80 million litres of wine, requiring 130,000 tonnes of fruit.
Workshop panelists including Rabobank’s Marc Soccio, AGWA’s Peter Bailey, Winestate editor and publisher Peter Simic, and the WFA’s Tony Battaglene then addressed where this growth could be found.
In truth, the representatives from Coles and Woolworths were on a hiding-to-nothing, but the participants in their workshop did not revolt even though the messages on offer we’re met with a cool reception.
Rose Scott, Woolworths Liquor Group general manager for merchandising, stressed partnerships with wine producers were important to both Woolies and Coles. “It is about how we work together, there will always be a bit of negotiation, but we need to understand both business needs and find the meeting point.”
It was the first ‘expert panel session’ for the conference that stirred the most emotion. It did get bogged down in key industry problems but it was prefaced by some depressing figures, presented by John Roberts from Centaurus Partners, and there probably always was going to be some venting on the back of these. However, there were rays of sunshine from the panel.
With his own distinct delivery, Bill Moularadellis, Kingston Estate managing director, had a motivational message – “people need to get on planes and do their share of the heavy lifting to sell 60 per cent of our production internationally.”
Brian Croser, Tapanappa Wines, talked up the diversity of the industry, saying small producers had emerged to deliver all the things both keynote speakers had requested, adding they actually “respond to all the consumer wants and needs”.
Michael East, Accolade Wines general manager Australia/New Zealand, said there’s room for all shapes and sizes, because “it’s all about what the consumer wants to experience and what they want to buy”.
Tony D’Aloisio agreed it was important to listen to consumers, because, “if they’ve changed, if they’ve moved, we need to understand why”.
Croser used the ‘high tide lifts all the boats’ analogy where, when export sales improve everyone will benefit. “We need to lead with the things that make our country unique, with the quality and difference proposition, when we sell that message everyone sells more wine,” Croser said.
East said all members of the industry are now responsible for carrying a positive attitude and share positive messages. “I think we are getting better, I think our attitude is better. We have talked things down since 2007, but if we were all to shine a light on what’s good about Australian wine we would all do better.”
Unity again.
“We have to continually look at innovation, continually reinvent ourselves and continually serve new and innovative solutions to our consumers,” Moularadellis said.
And innovation.
“We’re not making the most of the fact that we have a significant share of the world’s best grapegrowing sites, we have unique combinations of climate, geology and people,” Croser said.
Eliza Brown, Peter R Brown Family Vineyards chief executive officer, backed the call for positive attitudes, “we need to get really excited about what we do and get out there and tell our stories”.
East offered a challenge…”what can you do to help?”
As a network partner of WFA, Winetitles is pleased to be reporting directly from the conference.
Grapegrower & Winemaker editor Nathan Gogoll and Wine & Viticulture Journal editor Sonya Logan are Tweeting live at the below links.
Nathan Gogoll: @Grape_and_Wine
Sonya Logan: @WineVitiJournal
