Madge of honour?

Two things happened last week that I found quite interesting. First someone called me from The Independent asking about Madonna’s new wine project. Second, I noted from a recent Experian report that apparently more than 50% of respondents complained that there were too many confusing terms listed on the bottles of wine that they were presented with on their supermarket shelves.

Two things happened last week that I found quite interesting. First someone called me from The Independent asking about Madonna’s new wine project. Second, I noted from a recent Experian report that apparently, according to a survey they conducted before Christmas, more than 50% of respondents complained that there were too many confusing terms listed on the bottles of wine that they were presented with on their supermarket shelves.

Which got me thinking, while I was trying to answer The Independent’s query about Madonna’s wine. Perhaps putting a famous star on the label, rather than some confusing wine term is the way forward? Perhaps in an era where the world is dominated by the X factor, Pop Idol and Celebrity Big Brother the best way to sell wine is to stick a famous person’s name on a bottle of wine in order to sell it.

Problem is, it’s not that easy is it? I mean Madge is selling her Californian wine for $40 for the Cabernet and $29 for the Pinot Grigio. Now I haven’t tasted either, so can’t strictly judge the quality. The Cabernet could be anywhere in the range of ‘disappointing’ up to ‘fabulous’ at this price level. But the Pinot Grigio – well that’s going to have to be some find to impress at $29. If it came to the UK, that means it would be selling for anywhere from £18-£24. That’s a hell of a lot of money for a Pinot Grigio.

And when you consider the financials, you kind of have to figure that Madonna’s name on a bottle isn’t going to come cheap is it? My feeling is she probably wouldn’t get out of bed for much less than half a million when it comes to a licensing deal – which means either 50,000 cases each where she’s taking a dollar or two per bottle or more. And we all know what margins are like.

Still I haven’t tasted them and they could be superb, so I remain to be swayed as far as that is concerned. But can celebrities really give a product longevity? Cliff Richard is a good example with his wine from Portugal. Actually it’s a pretty bad example because he’s bought a vineyard, employed a very good wine maker and his name isn’t strictly on the bottle. Yes he probably sells more because he’s got thousands of fans that will buy it anyway. But he’s sold it every vintage for several years because it’s actually a half decent wine and relatively well priced. If he didn’t own it, and was taking a big chunk of licensing fee off that bottom line, I doubt it could remain in the market at its current price.

Likewise there have been cricketing stars, football stars etc etc, all of whom have had a go at sticking their names on wines. But fundamentally the margins aren’t there are they? Which I guess means it’s back to the drawing board as far as the label is concerned. But if all people are asking for, as the Experian survey suggests, is something simpler and clearer, then theoretically it shouldn’t cost many producers any money at all to improve their ‘sell ability’ – or certainly not a big fat fee to Madge at least.

Chris Orr – January 2006