{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/62301a5c63c97500122f8a76/690b892ad4fac9e84b07e58d?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"The Blocking & Tackling of Building a Global Icon w/ David Pearson, Joseph Phelps","description":"<p>With over 40 years of managing some of the top names in wine (Opus One, Mondavi, Baron Philippe de Rothschild), David Pearson, President of <a href=\"https://www.josephphelps.com/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Joseph Phelps</a>, has developed a distinct point of view on how to build a globally iconic brand. Ultimately, it comes down to relationships and the effort required to maintain them.&nbsp;From focus and prioritization to spending upwards of 65% of time on the road, David hopes more wineries will follow in his footsteps to build the category of Napa and American wines globally.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Detailed Show Notes:&nbsp;</strong></p><p>David’s background: started as a winemaker (Europe, SoCal), sensory evaluation for Hublein (now Diageo), post-MBA marketing job with Baron Philippe de Rothschild, Mondavi in France (see Mondovino movie), managed Byron, then CEO of Opus One, now President of Joseph Phelps</p><p>The goal is to create personal relationships and care about mutual success and partnership with accounts</p><p>“Focus is the hard part” - at Opus, initially London, Hong Kong, Japan; then emerging markets, Mainland China, Dubai; Phelps also prioritized Korea</p><ul><li>Singapore distributor told him, “We’ll see you in 5 years, the French come every year.”</li><li>Track people who buy wine and meet w/ them - 80/20 rule, focus on the top 20% of trade accounts</li><li>After the top 20%, do second tier of accounts, then collectors</li><li>Travelled ~65% at Opus One</li><li>Budgets ~20-30% of marketing expenses for building relationships</li><li>Opus One 1st 10 years - went to Asia, Canada, Europe every year, then put someone in Tokyo and Hong Kong</li><li>Sends ~400-500 handwritten holiday cards to partners with specifics about their last visit</li><li>Travel team includes a winemaker if they like it and are good at communicating, and a marketing team to better understand the market</li><li>Please don’t make it feel anonymous, but give the meetings and message personality</li><li>At Phelps, focused on Insignia and current vintage, show older wines to show aging potential</li></ul><p>The goal is to expand export to ~30-40% in 10 years vs. 12-13% of Insignia today</p><p>Brands need to think deeper about what’s unique and also where they are going</p><ul><li>Get alignment between the story, the wine in the market, and where you’re going</li></ul><p>The winery owner had three objections to export: </p><ol><li>sell all the wine to US customers, don’t want to take any away from them </li><li>don’t know who to sell to </li><li>don’t want to spend the time and money to go there</li></ol><p>Larger volume wines have different commercial relationships, same elements (knowing your partners, need to build), but margins tend to get squeezed</p><p>Believes that if the category is successful (e.g., Napa), everyone will be more successful</p><p>Negociants (La Place) respond to existing market demand well and are efficient distributors, but it is not in their DNA to build brands</p><p>Phelps uses the LVMH distribution network to build the brand and deliver directly to the core accounts</p><p>Measures quality of relationships w/ initial feeling, but then seeing the wines go to the market, need to see forward momentum</p><p>Tracks Liv-ex pricing a lot, seen upticks in Insignia</p><p>Other marketing elements: relationships happen over multiple channels now, need to do more social media, and be part of the discussion</p><p>The pricing goal is to have trade and consumer connect the innate value of the wine to the price</p><p>The current neo-prohibitionist environment recalls the 80s and the “Mondavi defense” of wine as a potential solution</p><p><br></p>","author_name":"Robert Vernick, Peter Yeung"}