Uproot Wines isn’t shy about targeting a specific target market: Millennials. How do they do it? What type of promotions do they do? What type of website? Let’s dive in –>

Ever since I saw this interview in 2013 about the launch of Uproot wines, I have kept an eye on how they are doing their marketing. They were one of the first wine brands to talk to the media about targeting Millennials.

3 Examples

This post is part of a series on how three different wine brands target six different wine consumers. Read the previous two posts here:

Intro: How 6 different brands target 6 different wine consumers

Part 1: How Mark West targets everyday loyal wine consumers

Who is Uproot Wines?

From their website:

We’re more than wine makers. Uproot is a winery that reimagines winemaking to create something fresh, modern, and full of energy. We’re change makers, experience makers. And, yes, some might even say trouble makers.

Let’s hear it straight from the Millennial owners:


From this video, we know they are tech savvy, which appeals to Millennials. Plus, they are very consistent with their brand label, brand story and messaging. Favorite quote from the video: “Wine drinking is all about people you are with, the food you have, and the experience.”

Wine Consumer

If we are looking at the 6 types of wine consumers, I would pick 2 for Uproot wines:

Engaged Newcomers

  • Don’t know much about wine, just like to drink it
  • Young = Millennials
  • Wine is part of socializing
  • Interested in learning more about wine

Overwhelmed

  • By number of choices
  • Like to drink wine, but don’t know what to buy
  • May select by wine label design
  • Want easy to understand info in retail
  • Open to advice, but frustrated if no one is in the wine section to help
  • If confused, won’t buy anything

Uproot Strategy

  • Differentiation: Wine makers. Change makers. Trouble Makers.
  • Messaging they use: “Uprooting the wine industry”
  • Sold online + stores + events
  • Cost: $28-$78, with three of their 6 wines in the $40 range

Logo Design

When I did a presentation on this same 6 part series at the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association, one of the things I focused on was the font choice of each brand’s main logo. The Uproot logo is composed of a very casual and non-traditional font (especially for the serif loving wine industry) and goes along with their core message of “Uprooting the Wine Industry.”
UprootLogo

Packaging Design

Texas Wine Marketing Research Institute and Rawls College of Business at Texas Tech University published a 15 year study that found:

“Unmistakable trend: the better the recognition rating a wine brand received, the more likely it was to survive. No such link existed between quality evaluations and a brand’s success.”

We also know that according to the 2014 Gallo Consumer Wine Trends Survey, nearly 2/3 of wine drinkers selected a wine for its label – with emphasis on “younger consumers.”

Knowing those two pieces of information, let’s review the very un-traditional Uproot packaging design. Their label is based on a series of color blocks that represent tasting notes, with the size of the block telling you how dominant that note is. Very different from a traditional wine label, like we just saw with Mark West, in Part 1. Gone is the clear hierarchy of information, serif fonts, chateau’s and in comes a bold statement: we are NOT trying to appeal to Baby Boomers. Many wine brands say they want to appeal to Millennials, but most are not as brave as Uproot in their label design.

MillennialLabel

Website

Since this wine brand does not have a physical winery location, their website becomes hugely important. Many Baby Boomer brands focus on the vineyard view when you open their website and talk about the experience. Uproot instead leads with wine and they aren’t shy about repeating the “shop now” message.

Below is their home page, where they lead with their logo, photo of their wine and a “shop now” button. Overall this website design shows the latest trends, with large photos, a clean layout and the navigation bar starting at the bottom and as you scroll it moves to the top of the page. Having a website that shows the latest design trends show that you are cutting edge and will appeal to the Millennials market.

UprootHomepage

Scrolling down the home page past the “shop now,” they again give you a chance to purchase wine:

UprootWines

Keep scrolling and then we come two boxes, that are specifically for the wine consumer that is not yet ready to purchase. The box on the right is for the wine consumer that needs a little extra push to make a sale. $15 off? Great, I’m signing up. Even if the wine consumer does not buy today, this is a great way to get the email address for further email marketing.

The box on the left, “Find your Uproot & take our flavor quiz” is perfect for capturing the Overwhelmed wine drinkers that aren’t sure what type of wine a “Grenache” or a “Grenache Blanc” taste like.

FlavorQuiz

Once you click on the flavor quiz, it takes you through a very short 3 question quiz that looks like this:

Uproot quiz

Once completed, it shows your wine result and again a chance to purchase their wine. Notice a trend here? This wine brand puts selling their wine first, which many traditional wineries do not do. One other item I notice below, is that shipping is included when you buy 3 bottles or more. In this age of Amazon prime free shipping, this is another great way to appeal to Millennials.

UprootResults

How can your wine brand be unforgettable?

Uproot wines is not afraid to focus on their target wine consumer and you shouldn’t be either. By focusing on one wine consumer, it will become clear which type of design to use on your packaging, and even how to design your website for optimal results, whether they be online sales or more in-person tastings. The key is having a focused target market and goals.

Need help creating an unforgettable wine brand?

As a full service branding and marketing agency, we provide a variety of services to help you build relationships with customers and sell more wine. Contact us to discuss your needs and we’ll provide a free estimate customized specifically for your winery.

Find the next example, on how to target mom’s here.

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