REPOSITIONING DIONIS CLUB'S LINE OF GEORGIAN WINES
Preliminary: Background "Dionis Club" is a widely known company in the Russian market. Its line of Moldavian wines has been and still is very popular among consumers. The strong advertising and promotion campaign for the purposes of the Moldavian wine marketing generated a strong association link in the consumers' mind between the "Dionis Club" brand, and Moldavia. This factor has become a serious obstacle for the company when Georgian wines began to be marketed under the "Dionis Club" brand. The goal of the project realized by the "PROPAGANDA" CCT in conjunction with the marketing department of the "Dionis Club" in late 1999 - early 2000 was to reposition and strongly promote the Georgian wine line of the company. Moreover, in the course of the project, the image of the company itself needed to be adjusted, and the consumers should be made to keep in mind that the "Dionis Club" is a producer and supplier of wines from different wine regions of Russia, the CIS and the far abroad.
Solution As a solution to the task, specialists of the "PROPAGANDA" CCT, in cooperation with marketologists and PR experts of the "Dionis Club", developed and conducted a large scale informational campaign in business, specialized, social and political media and "life style" editions. The campaign consisted of three stages. The key point of each of the campaign stages were comprehensive PR actions in different forms and styles.
1st stage
Press conference for Russian and foreign journalists named "Russian investments in the quality of Georgian wines, fight against fakes". The key informational occasion of the press conference was the opening and launch in Tbilisi of "Akhasheni" - "Dionis Club" 's own winery, producing Georgian wine exclusively of local raw materials.
2nd stage
"Dionis Club's Georgian palette": presentation exhibition. Georgian wines were presented in an exhibition hall of Tretyakovskaya gallery; the presentation was just a supplement to the main event - exhibition of famous Georgian artists Giorgi Gigineishvili and Zurab Nizharadze, organized and sponsored by "Dionis Club". The presentation was visited by prominent cultural and political figures: Zurab Tsereteli, Evgeniy Primakov, Boris Messerer, Bella Akhmadulina, Maria Arbatova, and many many others.
3rd stage
Press trip of Moscow journalists to Tbilisi, to "Akhasheni" winery. The press trip program included the examination of the production complex, a meeting with "Dionis Club" wine-makers and tasters working in Georgia, degustation of a new wine line "Qartuli Vazi".
Results of the project The company proposed and realized allowed "Dionis Club" to resolve both reputation and business issues. About 80 Russian and Georgian media participated in the PR campaign. Following only the above three actions, there appeared over 100 publications, reportages, informational reports. Journalists included the company managers among their newsmakers, the number of the company mentionings in mass media grew up considerably. The joint action with Tretyakovskaya Gallery found a wide response among Moscow cultural elite. And Tretyakovskaya Gallery included the "Dionis Club" among its honourable sponsors. In business terms, the PR campaign helped increasing considerably the number of Dionis Club's partners among distributors and networks. Sales of Dionis Club's Georgian wines grew up, consumers began to ask for the company's Georgian wines in shops more often.
