Entry content

Challenge
South African wine suffered from a poor reputation among key trade and press, and many consumers were unaware of the category.

Action
• Wines of South Africa (WOSA), a non-profit organization created to promote South African wines globally, is responsible for raising the perception of South African wines among press, trade and consumers.
• In 2015, WOSA retained Colangelo & Partners to implement a strategic communications program focused on trade and media relations, events and social media.
• Colangelo & Partners developed and executed a strategic integrated communications plan including media relations, press trips, social media, trade marketing, and events.

Results
• Successfully positioned South Africa as an emerging region with exciting wines waiting to be discovered with over 3 billion impressions across broadcast, print and online media in 2015 alone.
• Solidified relationships with trade through eight successful masterclasses for wine professionals and two after-hours meetups for Sommeliers.
• Organized media dinners and appointments for WOSA executives and winemakers in multiple markets.
• Executed a virtual tasting that resulted in over 600k impressions with an account reach of over 150k.