Building Perennial Brands w/ Nick Ramkowsky, Vine Connections

In part 2 of our series with Nick Ramkowsky, Owner of Vine Connections, Nick describes how he builds brands in the US market, striving to turn “annual” brands into “perennial” ones. Partnering with distributors both directly and working independently with consistency helps create a virtuous cycle of long-term relationships. Nick also covers his interest in sake and how it overlaps with sales strategies for wine.  

Detailed Show Notes: 

Two types of brands

• Perennials - brands where accounts grow in value each vintage; very few become this
• Annuals - need to sell the same case to a new account each year; everything starts here

The goal is to build brands into perennials

Getting to perennials includes having value in the bottle, packaging (VC has three designers on staff), relationships (finding the right spots/customers for brands and supporting the accounts (staff trainings, consumer events)), identifying champions on the distributor sales team, and press

Creating brand value as an importer - consumers believe in the importer’s book through consistent producers and quality across the portfolio

Consistency helps develop brands

Marketing strategies to build distributor demand

• Press (primarily critics)
• Effective distributor work withs (distributors need confidence importer will support them)
• Creating credibility in the marketplace (trade events, work withs, samples, incentive/launch programs)
• Can’t outspend more prominent importers for incentives, need to create unique ones - e.g., one supplier affiliated w/ custom made shirts, created incentive around the shirts

Setting suggested retail price (“SRP”)

• Through tasting, looking at the competitive set, and where the winery wants to be
• $1 in home country becomes ~$3 at retail in US

Sales strategies

• VC has ten salespeople across the US
• Do work withs with distributors, but also on their own to not overwhelm distributor reps
• Partner with reps, sending recaps for follow-up

Sake - started in 2002

• He went to Japan to work in a brewery to study the process
• Had to make more accessible - standardized back label, 1st to put English names on front labels
• They use the same distribution network as wine
• Place importance on education; VP of Sake Monica Samuels is a great educator
• Now, 20% of the Japanese imported sake market
• Recommends drinking sake from a wine glass, at cellar temp, or warmed to order for hot sake
• Kome website is more focused on the style of sake (e.g., fruity/floral vs. round/rustic) vs. grade now
• 46 prefectures brew sake - lots of expression of place
• Gluten and sulfite-free

Wine importing trends - people drinking less, but better (Gen Z - less alcohol, and non-alc drinks, believes they will look at wine more as they age; value premium products that are authentic, smaller, good stewards of land)

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