Discussion with Siobhan Thompson, CEO of Wines of South Africa

 

 

 

Siobhan Thompson, CEO of WOSA. Photo source: Drinks Business

 

One aim of mine while on Jordan's Women in Wine Programme is to understand the South African wine market in a broader context. I was lucky enough to catch Siobhan Thompson, the CEO of Wines of South Africa (WOSA) earlier this week before she flies out to the ProWein wine fair in Germany. In our discussion, we covered a breadth of topics around branding, marketing and finding the right approach to promulgate 'Brand South Africa' around the world.  WOSA is the nonprofit industry organisation which promotes South African wines internationally and has the challenging task of banding together vastly different wine producers with different interests to create a unified marketing and PR message for various markets around the world. Here's a quick summary of our conversation, based on Siobhan's comments:

WOSA office in Stellenbosch

 "The wine industry here is full of very passionate and artistic people with a lot of heart."

One of the four cornerstones of WOSA's messaging is of "wamkelekile", which means "welcome" in Xhosa, one of South Africa's indigenous official languages. According to Siobhan, promoting the unique warmth of South African people is an emotional hook that will vividly bring the wine here to life peoples' minds. It's about friendliness, braai (barbecue) culture, and soul. Nothing could ring more true for me, based in my experience. Everyone I've met at Jordan and also at the other wine estates we visited has been extremely generous with their time and all speak about their wines with a contagious passion. The challenge is to communicate this to people who are unfamiliar with South Africa and don't have a clear concept of what the country or its people are like, but if this comes across to the consumer, it could be very effective.  Hand in hand with this brand message is an effort to promote wine tourism in South Africa. Over the past several years, many wine estates have put a lot of time, money and resources into developing their properties into places where visitors are attracted to. Jordan's fine dining restaurant and it's top notch bakery are a lovely case in point. 

"Marketing South African wines is like a push and a pull"

On one hand, there is an effort to push South African wines out to the greater market. WOSA communicates that there is a wide range of South African wines to meet any budget or taste. Bulk and inexpensive wine is still a key profit driver here and offer consumers good value for money like the major wine brands in the US and Australia like Blossom Hill and Yellowtail, but there are also premium and exacting  producers who are pushing the envelope of quality wine-making. Both sides are crucial to the livelihood of the industry here and at times there are conflicting viewpoints around what the unified brand message should be. However, each wants essentially the same things: for South Africa to be recognised as a serious player in the global wine market and for the consumers to recognise that they're getting good value for quality on all parts of the price spectrum. Also, different regions here offer the consumer a variety of choice. For example, Elgin is about the racy, elegant cool climate wines, Stellenbosch is known for it's classic styles (Chardonnays, Chenins and Bordeaux varieties), and producers in the Swartland are the rebels who push the envelope and are experimenting with new styles and non-traditional methods.

On the other hand, it's also an effort to "pull" South African producers in the right direction. WOSA does a lot of market research to determine what's important in each export country. For example, in countries like Sweden and the UK, people are attuned to South Africa's focus on ethical farming and fairtrade practices as well as sustainability/green issues. However, in the US, people care more about the story of the wines - the personal tales of the winemakers, land and the grapes. Tapping into what each export market is attuned to is key to successful marketing.

In addition to these topics, we talked about WOSA's extensive presence at trade shows internationally and their focus markets - primarily the US, Africa and China, as well as their traditional core markets in Europe (UK, Benelux, and the Nordic countries). Despite being in the role for only 5 months, Siobhan as a strong vision for how South African wines are positioned and it will be exciting to see what developments for WOSA lie ahead.

For more information, Harper's interview with Siobhan is a recommended read: http://www.harpers.co.uk/people/qas/qa-siobhan-thompson-chief-executive-wines-of-south-africa/351249.article