One of my favorite parlor games is thinking about how someone outside of the industry, might see a different category. Take greeting cards and Hallmark. They sell a product that is organized by occasion. Not by country of origin, by the source of ink, by price or color — their organizing principle is the occasion.
Mom’s birthday.
Dad’s birthday.
Parent’s anniversary.
Graduation.
Bar Mitzvah.
Father’s Day.
Happy Thanksgiving.
And on and on.
How Would Hallmark Get into the Wine Business?
Wine is sold by varietal, by price and by country of origin. I can’t walk into a wine shop and typically find occasioned based wine. I need wine for Saturday night for a special dinner party. I want the wine to give as a gift to my best friend. I want the wine to celebrate a wedding or birthday or an anniversary.
Wine isn’t sold or branded or packaged this way. Instead, most brands fit into the category and blend.
Challenging the Convention of a Category
Try and sell occasion branded wine, and you’ll find that retailers don’t know where to put your product. They’ll default to putting it with the Chenin blanc or pinot noirs because that is the principle grape. But the consumer needs a wine to solve a problem.
- “I need to impress the boss.”
- “I need a gift that says I love you, Mom.”
- “I need wine for an informal get together with friends but isn’t pretentious.”
- “I need wine for a barbecue, not a fancy meal.”
Hallmark Wine
- Wine sold by Hallmark would provide you with space on the label to write your message.
- Wine sold by Hallmark would come with an envelope so that when you open it, there is some surprise.
- Wine sold by Hallmark might focus on the job you need it to do, not what it’s components.
- Wine sold by Hallmark would be for a mass audience, not an elite group who use mysterious and confusing words like terroir and describe the ink as having legs.
- Wine sold by Hallmark might play a song when you open up the bottle.
- Wine sold by Hallmark would convey powerful emotional messages and poems of love.
Lessons in Reframing The Question
Maybe your product development, marketing, and sales team could use a reframing for your business. Try this wonderful little thought experiment. Pick a company you admire (Tesla, Apple, Ben & Jerry’s, Starbucks, Uber, AirBnB). Imagine how they would get into your industry. What framework would they bring that focuses on something new and intriguing? What questions would they ask about needs that no one else is asking? What emotions and aesthetic might they bring to the business that is missing today? Koh Ohsedo, the founder of Blanc de Bleu Cuvee Mousseux created a very simple category of one. Learn more about Blanc de blue here.
You may unlock a new opportunity as you push the envelope.
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Need help to reframe how you differentiate your products? Contact me for a glass of wine and some conversation.
Photo credit: https://pixabay.com/en/red-wine-wine-bottle-wine-bottle-312731/
