Here’s what you can learn from an Australian top winery.
To drink a Wolf Blass wine is to feel that you’ve reached the highest social and cultural status in the world. It’s a must at any high-class event and it now feels like something that’s always been like this.
But how did they reach that point?
Let’s look at the interplay between music and the different elements Wolf Blass used to put their brand at the forefront of the wine industry.
Symbols
Wolf Blass has been around for a while now. They started in the 60s and have remained one of the best winemaker companies in Australia. They’ve got vineyards across many regions and they’ve won plenty of prizes for their distinctive craftsmanship. They’re associated with premium wines and are sold across 50 countries around the world.
Excellence is their main value. It’s the first thing they want you to see. Their logo is an eagle, a symbol of grace and vitality that can reach very high altitudes. In other words, reach higher levels of achievement that you wouldn’t normally get to.
The golden color is used across all their products and labels. It enhances perception of high quality, sophistication, and a symbol of a wine connoisseur.
What they seek is to condense the consumer’s aspirations into one product. A product that will give the customer power, social status, and elegance. They’re really selling you a feeling rather than the product itself.
So how did they share all these attributes and feelings with their customers?
Art. They used music as their emotional vessel to reach a deeper level in their customer’s psyche.
Look at the terrific job they did in their “Silk Gloves” TV Commercial. First, they hired an Australian composer, Jeremy Smith, pairing an excellent wine with both an award-winning and nationally raised composer.
Second, Smith used the Melbourne Symphonic Orchestra to convey a noble and powerful sentiment that makes the wine look refined and dominant. The use of string instruments is usually associated with a high-class society, but Jeremy also adds a modern and cinematographic touch to support the notion of ambition towards something that will make you great. It’s a dynamic way to express that people should aspire towards becoming part of an elite that will make them unique.
Music served different purposes to get the customer hooked to the brand.
Get your attention
Images alone are not always enough to get people to look at your brand. Adding sound to the equation gets the consumer hooked through multiple senses.
How come people feel so immersed while playing videogames? It’s because they’re being stimulated through multiple channels and there’s no room for an outside distraction. And sound has a huge toll on getting people into that hypnotic state.
Music captures the customer’s attention and it enhances brand awareness. In fact, brand recall is much stronger when you use a specific sound associated with the brand’s logo repeatedly.
Make you feel a certain way
Music awakens an emotional reaction in the consumer psyche, which helps the brand reach the customer on a personal level. It makes it more real for them once their feelings are touched and it inspires them to get to that place they really want to be.
Emotions sell.
When brands get a positive emotional response from their ads, they’re more prone to be viewed as a more positive company too. And a favorable response is more likely to drive sales up.
Promote engagement among customers
The marketing team did an interesting move with the Silk Gloves ad. They made a longer version of the musical piece and made it available to everyone for free. You could download the music track, get the sheet music, and even download it as a ringtone.
They wanted to make people part of the experience and music was a perfect gateway to get them involved. People could continue remembering and associating the brand when listening to music.
An interesting way to keep people’s attention on the brand, right?
Music, the next frontier in marketing
Wolf Blass is a great example of how music can be used to reach your customer in innovative ways. They use it to connect key brand elements and establish an emotional connection with their customers. And they’ve done it pretty well.
With the “Silk Gloves” advertisement, viewers were captivated by the musical element nicely interwoven with the artistic cinematography of the ad. They got a great reception from the public. People were eager to hear more of it and praised them openly to their friends.
Isn’t that every artist’s dream come true?
Music encouraged positive attitudes and emotions towards the brand, which in turn raised the consumption of that particular wine brand. Wolf Blass, the founder of this empire, helped raise both the quality and wine-drinking culture in Australia, and music was used as a powerful tool to bring this to reality.
What’s the end lesson here?
Well, music is and can be a powerful tool for any brand, you just have to learn how to use it properly.