Wolf Blass campaign with Cricket World Cup

Treasury Wine Estates has launched its summer marketing campaign as the official wine partner of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.

A £1m, integrated, 360° campaign to support the tournament-long partnership is launching this week and will include limited edition bottles, an experiential sampling event, wine tastings, social media, digital, print, PR and in-store activity. 

On-shelf now in all major retailers across the UK, limited edition, cricket-themed bottle labels are available across the Wolf Blass Yellow and Silver Label portfolios. There are five cricketing positions to collect – the batsman, the bowler, the captain, the fielder and the wicket keeper.

An experiential pop-up experience – The Chase – is opening at Bernie Spain Gardens on the Southbank from Thursday 30 May – Saturday 1 June. With three distinct areas, encompassing a vineyard, wine cellar and pavilion, Wolf Blass staff guide visitors encouraging them to use the senses of sight, smell and taste to discover their preferred Wolf Blass wine match. The Chase pop-up experience is also being activated at the Birmingham Fanzone from 28 – 30 June to heighten regional reach.

Wolf Blass will also be hosting a special media event at The Chase venue – “An Evening of Excellence” – on the evening of Thursday 30 (the day of the opening World Cup match between England and South Africa). Former England batsmen Nick Knight will interview two Ashes winning captains – Michael Clarke and Charlotte Edwards CBE – asking them about their careers and thoughts about the upcoming tournament.

During the tournament, Wolf Blass owned bars in select grounds will be offering fans the opportunity to sample the full range of wines. Wolf Blass wines will be present in all 11 stadiums around England & Wales with exclusive pouring rights in each in-stadium bar, as well as exclusive Wolf Blass owned bars at three major grounds – Lord’s, the Oval and Old Trafford. Wolf Blass wine tastings will also be taking place in ICC Corporate Hospitality during 12 key games throughout June and July.

A dedicated social media campaign will run throughout the tournament across all Wolf Blass social channels, as well as an online partnership with The Telegraph, offering consumers the chance to win match day tickets if they can find ‘Wolf’ the Eagle hidden in a gigapixel image. In-store activity will include sampling, chances to win tickets and a match day experience, shelf barkers, gondola ends, aisle fins and FSDUs to ensure significant brand standout in-store during the event.

Kirstie McCosh, European marketing director at brand owner Treasury Wine Estates, says: “We’re delighted to announce that Wolf Blass is once again the Official Wine Partner of the ICC Cricket World Cup and we have an exciting summer of marketing activity planned. Sport is one of our key strategic platforms and there is no doubt that the Cricket World Cup is one of the biggest sporting events happening in the UK this year. The plans hit all touchpoints, both in and out of store and we expect the campaign to reach more than 10m consumers this summer.

“The Cricket World Cup gives us a different way of engaging with our consumers through a sport that they are passionate about and the partnership with the ICC is a natural fit for the Wolf Blass brand, as both share the same core values – the pursuit of triumph.”

30 May 2019 - Sam Coyne The Drinks Report, editor