Understanding our client’s product is rule number one at Division of Labor. To that end, we moved the agency to Dropbox when we started working with the cloud storage company. We bought Roku’s for every TV when they were our client. And we went electric for our EV clients, Drive Clean Bay Area and VELOZ. 

And now that we’re working with Bogle Vineyards, it’s our job, our responsibility, actually, to sample every wine the vineyard produces. And, yes, it’s a tough job. But, we have a dedicated team that’s always willing to go that extra mile. That means blocking off time on our Google calendar for Pinot tasting. And, if necessary,  agency status meetings might get pushed to 4:30 to allow for more “tutorials.”

The Bogle + Division of Labor partnership kicked off in September and includes duties on all the signature Bogle wines as well as the Phantom brand. Our partnership is perfect because our personalities are very similar. Bogle isn’t one of those highfalutin vineyards that makes you feel uncultured because you can’t taste the “hints of rose petal and toasted almond notes.” Huh? And we’re certainly not that kind of ad agency. 

Bogle is a family vineyard, still run by the Bogle family and they make the best $10 bottle of wine on the market. Yep,  the humble $10 bottle is their bread and butter. They want wines that are approachable and easy to drink for regular folk.  And they sell it at Target, Cost Plus, Safeway, and Trader Joe. (But don’t worry, people who shop at Whole Foods will find it there too.) And Bogle gets plenty of internet media love as a standout in the great-tasting, affordable wine category. Food and Wine, for example, gave our client a shout-out last spring on a list of affordable red wines under $15.  Ditto for Good Housekeeping who mentioned Bogle in a piece titled 21 Wines that are Cheap in Price, But Not in Taste. 

Bogle has a strong strategic platform already in place. They know their market. They know their buyers and their retail distribution is well established. But wine at this level is often an impulse purchase. Eighty percent of the decision-making happens at the point of purchase while looking at labels. And with retail becoming more and more digital, the purchase process is longer, with more consumer touchpoints along the way. 

And that’s where a good ad campaign can really influence outcomes. Becoming top of mind earlier and remaining in people’s thoughts longer can influence a consumer’s reaction to in-store materials, including the label. We’ll be developing campaigns with multiple touchpoints around promotional messages that are uniquely Bogle.

Finding wine brands that stand out these days is tough. The reality is that wine advertising has been lacking in attitude and ideas for years. Lot’s of bottle shots, pour shots, vineyard shots and grape shots, yes. But, in the end,  not a lot of big ideas. 

There are exceptions, of course, like this campaign by Chiat in London during the heart of the pandemic lockdowns for Hun.

Of course, the vintage wine posters from back in the day are a treasure. Like this one for Prunelle Du Velay. And who could forget Orson Wells for Paul Masson? “Paul Masson will sell no wine…DEEP DRAMATIC PAUSE…before it’s time.”

But for now, we’re raising a glass to our new clients at Bogle and expecting some great campaigns that sell a lot of hooch in 2022. In the meantime, we’ll be hard at work “testing product” and tweaking the creative.  We’ll keep you posted on our launch. 

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The Small Agency Blog is produced by Division of Labor; a top San Francisco ad agency and digital marketing firm that’s been named Small Agency of the Year twice by Ad Age. The award-winning creative shop services clients on a retainer or project basis. They also offer brand consulting services and hourly engagements for startups and smaller brands. Click here for a free consultation.