Oddly enough, one of my more popular posts was about…a wine bottle. Earlier in the year I posted about a “peel-off” label that caught my attention. Rosenblum Cellars implemented the label into their bottle design. For a better description, check out my original post. My wife and I thought this was a great idea as we’re always wishing we’d saved something to remind us of good wines we’ve tried.

I was reading Brand Week recently and came across an interesting article about wine bottles and how they are evolving. The article focuses on the Amazing Food Wine Co. of New York and their efforts to take the guesswork out of pairing food with wine.

“The idea: In February, The Amazing Food Wine Co., New York, will launch “Wine That Loves.” The brand takes the guesswork out of pairing wine with food. Thus, Wine That Loves Pizza, Wine That Loves Pasta, Wine That Loves Roasted Chicken, and so on. A guide on the back of each bottle rates tannin, flavor, acidity, etc.”

I could not find a decent picture of the final design so I took a picture of the magazine article picture (shown left). It didn’t come out too well, but you get the idea. Wine with Chicken and Wine with Pizza are the titles – creating a whole new wine buying experience.

One reason I like this continuing story is because it reflects the small business marketers efforts to connect with a moving target – their audience and customers. The audience for wine makers has changed and evolved. It’s not only the wealthy consuming fine wines. There is a broader base of customers for wine makers and many more age groups to which they need to target.

Marketers in all industries face this challenge. What fun would marketing be if the same message and same methods for delivering that message were always the same? Our target markets change and evolve and it’s our job to find ways to figure out how to get back in touch with them. The wine market is learning – how are you doing?

I’m working on an interview with the Director of Marketing from Rosenblum Cellars. I’m hoping he’ll be able to shed some light on the topic of today’s wine bottle marketing.

I originally read about this story in my local Minneapolis Star and Tribune paper, but Brandweek did a better job of covering the event and prompted me to write a quick post about it.

Target Corporation ran an enormous branding event on New Year’s Eve in Times Square in New York. The promotion included ‘word-fetti’ provided by Target and large animations running on seven video screens throughout the famous area of Midtown. Coming from a small business perspective, when I first read the story, my first reaction was that this was a very large waste of money. Target doesn’t have a store in Manhattan and with all the chaos of the moment, the huge spend will go largely unnoticed.

Well, I saw the story retold in Brandweek and they offered a little different spin. Said Jeff Straus, executive producer of New Year’s Eve in Times Square, which is co-produced by Countdown Entertainment and the Times Square Alliance.

“We were very impressed because with them it was all about connecting with the consumer, more than about the branding. It was about creating an environment that would bring something to the revelers in Times Square.”

I also was in New York this week and had the chance to see a replay of the events of New Year’s Eve. They did a good job with it. They definitely connected with the consumer and (if you weren’t too intoxicated) you walked away having been touched by the Target brand.

What does a major outpouring of branding cash have to do with small business? I think any marketing manager of small business can read this article and take away a couple points about branding:

1. A branding effort needs to be focused and connect with its intended audience
2. In today’s media driven marketplace, you need to give your audience a chance to ‘interact’ with your brand as part of your branding strategy.

With limited budgets and resources, research and opportunity are keys in any small business branding strategy. By research I mean knowing your audience and knowing when, where, and how to touch them with your brand. And with limited budgets, you can’t jump at every branding opportunity. You need to be selective and choose based on how many you will reach and how deeply you can engrave your brand in their memory.

There have been some good blog postings recently regarding branding. If you have time check out:

Jonathan Mendez’s Blog – Optimize and Prophesize – He wrote about paid search and the use of branding keywords.

Chris Brown’s blog – Branding and Marketing – She discusses the use of color in branding and re-branding.

Marketing Vox Blog – writes about the New York Times re-branding strategy