Category Archive

We’ve been a bit busy of late, with website design, label concepts and eCommerce systems for new clients Adinfern Estate, Greedy Sheep, Pemberley Farms in Pemberton and Big Brook Wines Pemberton. If we can help your business call Charlotte on 0447 698822.

Cam has been working with global supermarket chain ALDI to design their Australian online liquor sales channel. ALDI are a world leader in changing the way that people shop at supermarkets, and with over 150 stores in Australia, the ability to sell liquor online was a key part of growing the business locally.

Free The Wine developed the specs for the front end website that customers use, as well as the technical eCommerce back end systems, including payment gateway details and user preferences for buying online.  Website usability and key online sales architecture was also developed to provide a robust and scalable eCommerce strategy.

Doyen of Australian wine James Halliday’s new Australian Wine Companion rated the ‘03 Hill of Grace ($660) 89 points. He also gave the ‘06 Angove’s Long Row Cabernet ($9.99) 89 points. He gave the ’03 Grange ($550) 95 points. He also gave the ‘06 Zilzie Shiraz ($15) 95 points…hmmm (stolen from the guys at WBM). Read into that what you will, what message are you sharing about your wine?

We are pleased to announce the addition of Charlotte O’Beirne to the team at Free The Wine. Charlotte’s area of expertise is in assisting clients to increase wine sales, devising marketing plans and budgets, promotions, launching new wines and working with distributors to develop new and established markets worldwide.

For the past 5 ½ years Charlotte was the Sales & Marketing Manager at Stella Bella Wines, one of Western Australia’s most recognised wine brands where she established new markets domestically and overseas, worked with distributors to grow sales and helped to establish the brands of Suckfizzle, Stella Bella and Skuttlebutt in the minds of the wine public.

Prior to that she organised the inaugural Margaret River Wine Show, which is now an established event and an important part of the local Margaret River wine industry.

Please contact Charlotte O’Beirne for further information >> 0447698822

We’ve just completed the website for Lost Lake Wines in Pemberton, a very popular cafe and cellar door for tourists and locals alike. Take a look.

We’ve just finished the design for That Margaret River Stuff - a range of local stuff including olive oil and dukkah. Nice. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve just finished the Cape Mentelle website, take a look

A couple of great articles here on changes occurring to how wine is/could be marketed, well worth a read….

Marketing Wine in the 21st Century, read what Phil Sexton from Giant Steps and Mark Kehoe from Grays Online have to say….

and Australia’s UK Market Overdue for Review by Mike Paul

We’ve had a busy start to the new year, with new clients coming on board; Jerusalem Hollow Wines, the sparkling wine of Margaret River, Settlers Ridge Organic Wines, and Saracen Estates, one of the showcase cellar doors in the region. If we can help your business grow and find a market, drop us a line.

We’ve just completed the rebranding of Lost Lake Wines in Pemberton. The guys at Lost Lake wanted to keep the feel of the ammonite (a shell fossil) in their logo, yet increase the brand awareness and luxury feel of the label. Take a peek. Read the rest of this entry »

OK so its not wine related, but here’s an example of a website we’ve just completed for Explorus Adventure Learning: simple and and uncluttered.

Free The Wine is stoked to be a recipient of the Federal Government’s new Advancing Australia Fund (AgFund). Partnering with the Margaret River Wine Industry Association, our WineSMART initiative will help Margaret River wineries by providing podcasts on best practice in the local wine industry in areas of viticulture, wine making, water management and market development. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve been a bit busy of late, with new additions to the family (little Archie) as well as flat out for clients on range of items from packaging development, brand creation, web site development, and newsletters.

Heres a couple of examples we created; Stella Bella’s newsletter and Lenton Brae’s newsletter to customers. Although quite different, they are still focussed on their target audience and engage customers to have a relationship with the winery.

Cam recently presented details on how wineries can take advantage of wine 2.0 at the Margaret River Wine Industry Marketing seminar series.

Have a look at the pdf of the discussion

We welcome the following to our list of current clients who listen to us carry on about the freeing the wine; Lost Lake Wines, Lenton Brae, Becketts Flat, Skuttlebutt Lifesaver and Deckchair Margaret River.

Oh, and olympic juggernaut Games Resource Directory for allowing us to drive their database from the back of a Datsun 180B.

Free The Wine was recently interviewed in the January edition of the Australian and New Zealand Grapegrower and Winemaker, the National Journal of the grape and wine industry. I talked about the niche for new and disruptive media in wine marketing and how it can complement traditional media channels.

I reckon that disruptive media is exactly what it says; it disrupts your usual media spoonfill, and allows people to talk directly to potential clients and customers by bypassing, cutting through, and killing traditional media as a third party delivery mechanism.

You can read more about the changing media scape at this nice blog: mashup media

Dr Cam O’Beirne’s presentation at the recent World Wine & Travel Summit held in Margaret River talked about wine + travel podcast opportunities.

A PDF of the presentation is available.

Free The Wine was recently listed by Australia’s Wine Business Magazine as one of the top 10 innovators in the wine industry, with our use of technology to reach trade and consumers. Using podcasts and e-marketing can certainly assist in reaching new markets and customers. Have a look through our site to find out more…

Believe in what you are doing and saying: Telling a story, lifestyle and experience… you can do it.

How do you differentiate your winery and wine from all the other small to medium wineries out there?

Why does that one winery always get coverage in the media? I know their wine’s good but is that enough? They must have a huge team of marketers pushing it. Well no. Not really, however they usually have a plan, and following that is essential.

idea 1: Stick with a Simple, Focused Message.
Free the Wine! The name says it all. Getting wine out into the marketplace using a variety of means and getting consumers excited! The name has emotional appeal. Someone recently said to us about freeing the wine; I didnt know it was trapped!” Simplicity is key.

Help your marketing by simplifying the message. Are you ANOTHER Family name/hill/estate? What are you doing to be different from the winery down the road?

Consumers see hundreds of marketing messages every day. Do you really expect them to remember all the nuances of your winery? Stick to a focused, simple message and you improve your odds of standing apart.

Idea 2: Be Strategic
marketing needs to be an integral part of a winery’s business and sales plan, not some afterthought. (of course we’re going to say that, we’re marketers!) Story telling (PR) and news coverage assists in marketing brands successfully.

How? For example, if you get a good review, or are mentioned in the media, you/we/they could post the review in a shelf talker template, then send an email to your trade list indicating that the shelf talker can be downloaded from your website, so enhancing the brand and providing a reason at POS to pick you up. Read the rest of this entry »

The wine industry in Australia is currently facing challenges in communicating with customers and selling more wine. So there’s a specific need for dissemination of information through areas within the industry as diverse as agricultural processes, wine production, and marketing and communications to customers.

The industry is in need of innovative means to grow sales as supply outstrips demand. Here’s an example of the use of podcasting for the wine industry,

imagine a customer listening to the tasting notes from the winemaker directly on their iPod; hearing the winemakers voice or watching video of them in the vineyard on their iPod as they describe the wine passionately and personally, something that a piece of paper or PDF download just can’t convey.

Another example is in the vineyard;

perhaps you’re unsure exactly what the pest attacking the vines looks like, well, we envisage that you can download the latest video or pictures of the pest onto your iPod, with an accompanying commentary on how to eliminate the pest by leading experts whilst you physically eyeball and compare it to that insect attacking your vines.

Here is a recent example, Brian Croser interviewed by Charlotte O’Beirne after the 2006 Margaret River Wine Show