Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/197178
After looking closely at the competitive landscape, Gallo executives spotted the potential for a wine that combined the first three styles. The company then mined its varietal and winemaking data to develop a blend that would meet its target price-point. Gallo's Apothic Red wine was created based on taste preferences described by surveyed customers at winery events. further when it introduced a companion white blend in 2012. Clearly, Gallo's prediction engine, one powered by more than 500 terabytes of data (512,000-plus gigabytes), is a proprietary competitive advantage. IN PURSUIT OF THE SPLURGE For Larry Lockshin, who heads the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute of Marketing Science at the University of South Australia, accurately predicting consumer preferences begins with understanding what's driving those preferences. "It's my belief that c o n s u m e r p r e f e r e n ces are driven by three things: processed food, strong flavors, and by The resulting wine, a red blend labeled Apothic, was launched in 2011, and by 2012 it had become one of the country's top 10 table wine brands in the $8-$10.99 range, according to Symphony IRI Group data. Gallo leveraged the label marketing in its broadest sense or branding," he said. Lockshin, who conducts research for consumer package goods giants such as Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble, sees firsthand that the wine industry has a tendency to overestimate consumer interest and engagement. In a recent study of purchase and repurchase behavior by Australian consumers, Lockshin and his colleagues looked at a typical shopping cart over six months of buying behavior. They discovered that white wines were treated as substitutes for each other; behavior that has a lot more to do with what's handy on the store shelf than taste preferences. "Consumers will say that they don't like chardonnay, but when they taste it blind, they like it," Lockshin explained. "People notice what their brain tells them to notice – what other people are drinking, what's on the store shelf and on the wine list." the fine art of closures mala-usa.com (415) 302-3123 G@mala-usa.com 90 V I N E YA R D & WIN E RY MANAGEM ENT | Nov - Dec 2013 w w w. v wm m e d i a . c o m