Auditing the identity of regional wine brands: the case of Swiss Merlot Ticino

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to propose a method by which to audit winemakers' communication of regional wine brands and to illustrate the method's conceptual basis through its empirical application to the Swiss wine Merlot Ticino. Design/Methodology/Approach -The audit is comprised of two parts: one captures producers' intentions regarding the communication of the regional wine brand while the other determines what wineries actually convey through their formal communications. Data about intentions were collected through qualitative interviews and a survey of producers, while data on what wineries convey was based on a content analysis of wineries' communication materials. Findings -The application of the audit to the brand Merlot Ticino shows that the proposed method provides several insights into the brand's personality, possible gaps between producers' intentions and actual communications, the potential target of the communication, the level of consistency of communication content and style, and the expressiveness of wineries in communicating the regional wine brands. Research limitations/implications -The content analysis adopted in this research focuses on formal communications issued by wineries. Adding oral contents and consumer perceptions would considerably improve the audit tool. Originality/Value -This paper provides winemaking regions with a useful tool with which to determine the effectiveness of their brand projections in the collective promotion of their regional wine brands. The paper is of value for academic research because it illustrates that results may be obtained in the wine brand field using methods traditionally used in corporate communication research, like projective techniques and communications audits. Keywords -Communication audit, regional brand, identity, Switzerland. Paper type -Research paper 2 IntroductionToday's wine industry is enjoying growth in production, and consumption is increasing, especially in emerging economies [I] . This growth also means increased global competition, and several global brands developed by giant New World producers, as well as emerging small and medium-sized (SME) Australian and Chilean wineries, have begun challenging traditional small European productions.In the face of such competition, how wine brands are communicated to consumers has become more important than ever (Campbell and Guibert, 2006; Egan and Bell, 2000); however, thus far the majority of studies have focused on understanding consumers' perceptions and attitudes toward regional brands (Rasmussen and Lockshin, 1999;Hall, Lockshin and O'Mahoney, 2001;Thomas and Pickering, 2005), while research on how producers in a winemaking region cooperate, develop, and promote a common brand identity remains limited (Fensterseifer, 2007).This paper addresses the issue of collective branding for regional wines from a communication perspective. It provides a methodology with which to assess wineries' intentions and how they communicate their regional brands with an empirical applicat...

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