LUXURY WINES & SPIRITS

At Giant Leap we have worked with some of the industry’s biggest names to help drive their business goals, transform their digital offering, and ensure market penetration. 

From high-end English winemakers through to new Gin, Tequila, and Whiskey brands. We have helped to support launch strategies across different markets, including the UK, US, Japan, and Europe, while also developing strong ecommerce offerings and accelerating organic search.

Much of this has been spearheaded by the expansion of the UK wine and spirits market. The number of wine and spirits companies has increased significantly in the last ten years. 

In 2013, there were around 1,500 wine and spirit companies in the UK. In 2023, there are over 3,000; a 100% increase.  

While this has been a primary market, we have also witnessed expansion in North and South America, driven by some key ambassador programmes, supported by effective ecommerce. With this we have seen:

• Increased investment: leading to the launch of new brands and the expansion of existing businesses.
• Growing popularity of craft spirits: The popularity of craft spirits has grown in recent years, leading to an increase in the number of small-scale distilleries, especially in the UK.
• Export growth: As the quality of UK wine and spirits has increased, as has the popularity of luxury British craft brands overseas.

To help these luxury drinks brands succeed we use a three-point programme:

1. Digital marketing basics for wine & spirit brands

Firstly, get the fundamentals of your web offering right, including your website, CRM, product feeds, and digital marketplace integration.  

Ensure your social space represents your brand in the right way – that it’s elevated, premium, and exclusive. We always recommend to work across a few carefully selected social channels and do it well than spread yourself too thin.

2. Elevation & performance

Brand elevation for each market.  By working with key influencers/thought leaders or brand ambassadors, build a robust programme on social to help engage with your core audience at scale.  

This doesn’t have to cost large sums as there are ways you can use the platform algorithms to your advantage and reach your target audience on mass while elevating your position and driving brand awareness.

Executing performance. To drive performance, ensure that all key channels are executed across Google, marketplaces (yes, there are luxury market places that can drive a huge impact), and social media shops.  

This must all be developed with a clean link to your CRM and products database, while developing a feedback loop with your product feeds and analytics data.

3. Building brand loyalty

One of the strongest ways to drive long-term growth is through your existing customers or the people who have been in contact with the brand.  

A low cost option for any business – but for luxury brands we often see a large increase in conversion (up to 70% compared with non-lux brands) – is a strong CRM programme. Often, existing customers are the best advocates, valuing the brand story, pedigree, history, and quality, as well as the exclusive.

Using tailored content to help draw your different audiences closer to the brand encourages greater engagement and conversion.

We help brands define their CRM and remarketing programmes to drive the right long-term growth and understand the LTV from their audiences.

These are some of the key opportunities open to luxury wine and spirit brands looking to expand and drive market share. But there are also numerous other approaches that might be right for your given business model.  

If you would like to discuss the ways we can help your luxury wine or spirits brand then please get in touch.