Brand Management Strategies In Australian Wine Industry Essay.

The importance of responsive, future-proof, resilient and growth-oriented brand management

Discuss about the BRL Hardy Australian Wine Company.

1. Marketing roles and responsibilities include managing the marketing activities of the company and developing strategies as per the company objectives. In this particular case the global brand strategy of BRL Hardy, an Australian wine company has been considered. The Australian wine industry had gone a lot of changes within few years. Therefore the company had to think carefully about the marketing pattern carefully in order to pursue a global brand strategy. As innovation is an important part of marketing therefore fortified wines became obsolete and vineyards were substituted by varieties of table wine.

The changes in the wine industry were responsible for affecting the upcoming wine companies in Australia. That is why in order to pursue global brand strategy it becomes essential to practice responsive, future- proof, resilient and growth- oriented management. In order to ensure that the brand functions properly on a global context adaptability and flexibility are important. Philips is one of those brands which became successful by maintaining balance and thus made a big impact in the Chinese market.   

It is also important to adapt to the solutions based on technology as it is considered as the best benefit of brand management. If consistency, is maintained in the identity and marketing strategy of brand then it acts as a strategic guide. For instance, Unilever has made use of Percolate, a marketing software company for supporting global brand management practices. By modifying the structure of the organization and working actively global brand management can be improved. 

2. Initially the BRL Hardy Company was at the top of Australian wine selling companies and Carson, the managing director always felt proud about the situation. But the condition became different when he had to decide between the future strategies of the company and the implications on the international functions. This became a matter of concern for both Carson and Davies. In addition to that company managers had to decide on two competitive proposals for making new entry in the Australian wine market.

Stephen Davies was appointed as a marketing manager of the BRL Hardy Company to evaluate the global operations. In doing so he found that the international operations were not at a very good stage, rather poor. This became a matter of tension for him and he started to think of ways by which this difference can be sorted. He made “Quality Wines for the World” the slogan of the company to build the perfect export strategy based on a premium quality of brand image. 

When both of these persons were in anxiety to save the company from distress Millar, the managing director of the parent company came to their rescue. He was the one who wanted Carson to be involved in this matter. Along with that he also wanted to make sure that the European activities are aligned with the strong and new strategies of the company so that they can remain in the top position in the market. In this way he did not even want to endanger the position of this company in the market as it was responsible for two- third of the export sales.  

3. Among the two proposal files that led Carson and Davies to worry about the future of the company, one of the files contained the proposed launch of D’istinto, a new line of Italian wines. These were developed after collaborating with a Sicilian winery. It can be suggested that BRL Hardy should not launch D’istinto in the UK even though Carson and his team was deeply involved in this project. This is because there was quite a lot of controversy among the Australian management. They were concerned about Mapocho which was another business sourcing pact. It was battling at that point to make a proper marketing launch and make the weakening relation with Chilean sourcing associate better.

In such a critical situation it will not be a wise decision to ignore either of the two projects. The plan behind launching D’istinto is to build an amazing image for it in the Mediterranean lifestyle. However it would not have been possible if the concentration of the managers is shifted to Mapocho. Thus one of the two projects needed to be compromised for the sake of the other. Since Mapocho was already launched in the market therefore it deserved better treatment than D’istinto which was yet to be launched. Moreover, even though the idea of this Italian wine was appreciated but many questions were raised before its approval. The management had negative feeling about this particular brand because of previous ventures gone badly.      

4. There was an issue in deciding between the managers of the company whether to launch Banrock Station in the UK. The UK based management had become successful in developing a reasonable amount of commitment to Kelly’s Revenge. It was a brand that was built up to react to the UK market opportunity. On the other hand the parent company was more concerned about the promotion of Banrock Station because this product was successfully launched in Australia before and that is why they wanted to continue it as an international brand without modifying the price level.   

Adapting to technology to enhance global brand management practices

The company should launch Banrock station in the UK because it was positioned in the market as an environmental- friendly product where the profits were partly allocated to the conservation groups. If it would be launched in the UK then the price would be kept similar to that of Kelly’s Revenge. The product would be considered as an instant success for the Australian market and tends to be the largest selling imported brand in New Zealand.     

Moreover, the Banrock Station should be launched in UK because Davis and Millar were convinced of the potential of this brand at an international level. They also convinced the BRL Hardy companies in other places such as Europe and North America to put their best efforts behind it.  It was accepted by Canadian managed to be launched immediately because they had foreseen the benefits behind it. The ample benefits that were being received from this brand should not be overlooked.

5. There was a constant issue between the launching of Kelly’s Revenge on one hand by the UK management and Banrock station on the other hand by the parent company. It can be suggested that Kelly’s Revenge should not be launched in UK. As it has been discussed in the report that Banrock Station will also be launched in the same price level of Kelly’s Revenge to succeed in the new market. Moreover, Banrock Station was also a potentially global brand and Davies and Millar was convinced by that. Kelly’s revenge could stand nowhere in front of its competing brand. Millar added to this explanation that when Kelly’s Revenge was taken to UK, it failed to appeal to the marketers.

Instead, Banrock Station was successful in getting compliments in the UK market. This was counted as a great opportunity for positioning the brand in the UK market. Therefore it will be a great decision to stop the launch of Kelly’s Revenge in the UK market because nobody would like to put the company’s reputation at stake. Banrock Station was already successful in appealing to the consumers in its production stage because of its conservation efforts. That is how the company could gain its reputation as a potential global brand.

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