With the slogan "Drink Different", the Bordeaux wine advertising agency "Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux" (CIVB) and the German Wine Institute (DWI) want to jointly promote German and French wines in the USA for the first time from March 2019.
A budget of 9.8 million euros is available for the three-year campaign, 80 percent of which is financed by the European Union within the framework of the EU programme "Enjoy, it's from Europe". After an elaborate application process, the joint proposal was able to prevail over many applications from all over Europe, reports the DWI.
Marketing will focus on the US states of California, Oregon and Nevada on the west coast and South Carolina, Florida and Georgia in the southeast of the country. Independently of this, the work of the two marketing organizations in the USA would continue and be coordinated with the EU-funded projects. According to the DWI, the "Drink Different" program is aimed at "opinion leaders from retail, hospitality and the media in the US market". European wine culture is brought closer to US consumers "through atmospheric events".
For DWI Managing Director Monika Reule and Allan Sichel, CEO of the CIVB, the advantages of jointly promoting wines from Germany and Bordeaux are obvious: "The USA is one of the most important foreign markets for both Germany and Bordeaux, without any overlap in our grape variety offerings there," explains Reule, and Allan Sichel adds: "A major reason for our cooperation is also our shared history, culture, and the way we enjoy life
In the USA, the per capita consumption of wine in relation to the total population is around eleven liters per year, significantly less than in France (41.7 liters) or Germany (23.8 liters). Only about one third of the wine consumed in the USA is imported.
Since 2006, the United States has therefore been the most important foreign market for German wine producers. With an export volume of 172,000 hectolitres worth 72 million euros, the United States accounted for around a quarter of German wine export revenues in the twelve-month period up to November 2018. From Bordeaux, almost 200,000 hectolitres of wine worth 280 million euros were exported to the USA by the end of November last year.
(uka)