ROSENDAL WINES The marketing function.

Introduction.

Rosendal is a direct selling business with a premium wine brand as its core product, selling to upper LSM groups throughout South Africa and Namibia, with priority focus in Gauteng. A parallel business stream is being created by the development of other distribution channels such as a growing on- and off-consumption market, e-commerce and content management. With an effective elevator story as brand overview, the marketing department deploys direct marketing means within the allocated budget to manage the corporate identity of the wine brand and call centre business, whilst creating an enabling environment for the entire team to facilitate growth of their individual databases and the business as a whole. The marketing department uses technology and tech savvy ways to improve the capability and performance of all departments, whilst keeping a steady overview of the business by presenting intelligent business insights with integrity; creating a one-number-dashboard view.

Elevator story.

Rosendal boasts a unique concept that crafts consistent, award-winning premium quality wines. The range of products are discretely sourced from exclusive vineyards across the Western Cape. Each of these are carefully chosen to be a top representation the brand. Its award-winning winemaker ensures optimum consistency across the entire range and nurtures the final product to excite the palate with each and every bottle of Rosendal wine. The business is therefore guaranteed to never have a bad vintage. These distinguished wines are promoted by an enthusiastic sales team who interacts with a growing clientele who understands the sophisticated captivation of wine. All endeavours are equally recognized by the Veritas symbol of excellence, the international Michelangelo wine awards and the renowned Platter’s Wine Guide. All of the products carry a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Once a private client received their wine and feels that the quality is not as promised, Rosendal we will collect and refund the purchase in full. The recently developed Noble Nomad brand and wine range have been listed with the magical Madame Zingara group and other prestigious niche venues. It is another affirmation of the grand style of wines that Rosendal produces.

Rosendal operational vision.

The management team is tasked to generate an x-number of sales by producing quality and award-winning wines at the best possible price, available to private and other niche clients and markets. Furthermore, the team is responsible to continuously build all the Rosendal brands within the allocated budget and improve the financial management ability of the business.

> KEY POINTS: CURRENT STRATEGY AND OPERATIONAL PLAN

● Grow sales revenue through direct selling ● Maximise the loyalty program benefits ● Grow exports market share ● Advance internet sales platform ● Develop Rosendal events into a separate sales channel ● Evolve the Noble Nomad brand ● Establish new and expand existing distribution channels ● Broaden the product mix

Customer and transactional reporting:

● Customer acquisition ● Active customer analysis ● Unique client information ● Direct customer communication ● Tasting Room subscriber performance

Customer retention (Rosendal Rewards) reporting:

● Basket value insights ● Repeat purchase behaviour ● Minimum spend growth ● Communication campaigns results

Other operational deliverables:

● Grow e-commerce effectiveness ● Develop events ● Improve the recent on-consumption and retail distribution channels ● Product, price and competitor insights ● Promote competition results, awards and accolades ● Core stock information, collation and projections ● Content conceptualisation, creation and management ● Lead source campaigns ● Packaging opportunities ● Maximise farm based marketing opportunities

Marketing overview.

> MARKETING OUTLINE

The annual operational plan is used as strategic guidance to manage the overall marketing responsibilities:

● Fulfil a direct marketing purpose to enable call centre and other business growth ● Analyse, report and review all business data to keep an updated and accurate dashboard view ● Internal and external communication management ● Customer retention management and SalesForce administration

> BRAND OVERSIGHT Manage the Rosendal and Noble Nomad brand with its own sub-categories. The brand profile currently includes:

● Rosendal ○ Rosendal ○ Barony ○ Reserve ○ Jubileum

● Noble Nomad Other key points of brand management include:

● Corporate identity development and management ● New product and packaging conceptualisation and development ● Brand visibility and growth ● Event management ● Image bank organisation

> COMMUNICATION SUMMARY Internal and external communication plan is influenced by the core functions of the marketing department, the operational plan deliverables and the marketing calendar.

External communication

1. Existing Customer Communication Content driven to increase brand awareness and improve sales.

All content creation, management and distribution

○ Conceptualisation ○ Copywriting ○ Creative assembly ○ Distribution ○ Reporting

The core function of this communication must publicise:

● Product information and price points ● Tasting Room subscription ● Rosendal Rewards program benefits and information ● New product launches ● Campaigns and promotions

Communication platforms include:

● Packaging ● Traditional and e-newsletters ● Website, blogs and e-content ● Social media community management

○ Facebook ○ Twitter ○ Google+ ○ Youtube ○ LinkedIn

● SMS ● Transactional communication ● Third party PR platforms

Content is created twice a week and distributed via all relevant channels. Adhoc communication happens within all the Rosendal programmes, whereby existing clients are informed of certain headline information.

2. Extended leads database

This database is extensively used to build brand awareness and enable new customer acquisition. The platforms in use:

● Online shop, website and blogs ● Landing page lead generation technology ● e-Newsletters ● Social media

○ Facebook ○ Twitter ○ Google+

○ Youtube ○ LinkedIn

Content is created twice a week and distributed to these databases to enable lead conversion.

Internal communication Extensive internal communication is managed by the marketing department to inspire and enable the sales team to achieve their deliverables and accomplish the goals set out in the operational plan. The headlines include, but are not limited to:

● General business information ● Policy documents ● Software updates and changes ● Product information, promotions and price lists ● New product presentations ● New customer campaigns ● Weekly team leader boards ● Programme information

○ Rosendal Rewards ○ Tasting Room

Extended marketing functions.

> ROSENDAL REWARDS: CUSTOMER RETENTION

A tiered loyalty programme was conceptualised and developed to increase customer loyalty by growing the business in the following key areas:

● Basket size ● Basket value ● Repeat behaviour ● Customer attrition

A fully functional software integration was developed and works seamlessly with the CRM software and sales team point of sale interface. Strategic markers have been set and very detailed reporting and analysis are presented on a monthly basis, with an annual strategic presentation on insights and projections. Internal communication

● Team inspiration ● Hard copy client information for review ● Periodic information ● Redemption period launch and expiry ● Admin

External Communication

● Redemption periods ○ Period start and end ○ Personalised information ○ Benefits ○ Upsell opportunities

> TASTING ROOM: SUBSCRIBER PROGRAMME

This platform provides an opportunity to generate passive revenue on a quarterly basis and showcase new release wines to a privileged set of subscribed customers. Communication is focused to attract new subscribers, retain current members and advertise the exclusive benefits.

● Bundle planning and management ● Pricebook and Salesforce integration ● Communication

○ Internal sales team promotion ○ Existing clients ○ External communication to grow the subscriber base and enable sales ○ Transactional information

● Marketing content ○ Copywriting ○ Newsletter design and oversight ○ Video content production management ○ Video content distribution

> PROMOTIONS

A strategic position was validated to not have ad-hoc promotions and thereby devalue the product, as the informal research found that upper LSM clients have no preference to a themed sale or discount in a very intimate selling environment such as the Rosendal model. The rewards programme therefore acts as a priority quarterly boost to create a promotional feel. Value add-ons and stock liquidation happens from time to time to create an enabling environment for the sales team.

● Pricepoint, GP and bundle management ● POS integration ● Internal and external communication

> DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS (ON-CONSUMPTION & RETAIL)

The Noble Nomad product and brand was developed to serve a new distribution channel parallel to the core business function of direct sales. Various third party relationships and commitments are in place to service this target based deliverable.

● Target driven as set out in the strategic plan ● Relationship management ● Strategic growth plans and presentations ● Detailed reporting and insights ● Dashboard updates ● General admin ● Data and sales capture

> E-COMMERCE

With a dire need to counter the inevitable loss of clients, the online shop is deployed to enable new customer acquisition with various campaigns and communication formulas. This is another target driven deliverable with set campaigns and promotions throughout the year to improve Rosendal’s electronic footprint and grow the business.

● Target driven as set out in the strategic plan ● Manage e-store (content, sales capture, admin etc) ● Communication and brand management ● Social media community integration ● New client acquisition plans ● Quarterly online sale events ● Customer and order management

> NEW PRODUCTS

Both the Noble Nomad and Jubileum range project is key to the marketing function. Both these product lines were developed out of a compelling need to expand the brand reach to both the entry level and on-consumption market (Noble Nomad) and a very elite investment wine client grouping (Jubileum). Other opportunities exist and can be explored to create value add sales and additional income streams from the existing database and also potential new customers. Other than major new product development, the current ranges continuously improve and launch new varietals and vintages as set out in the production plan, scheduled and managed by the Production Manager.

● Creative administration ● Packaging revitalisation ● Content management

○ Photography ○ Tasting notes ○ Pairing notes ○ Product tasting cards ○ Internal promotion

■ Presentations ■ Educational tastings

○ External launch ● Product uploads

○ e-Commerce platform ○ Blogs and vlogs ○ e-Newsletter ○ Social media ○ POS software integration ○ Price lists and price books ○ Accounting integration

> PRICE LIST AND PRICEBOOK

The engine room of a sales person’s function at Rosendal is an effective and attractive price list. With limited quantity releases, the price list is periodically updated as products are sold out or added. The list is available in various formats, but most importantly, as a shop window on the e-commerce site, a document at hand for the sales team and on the point of sale software, linked with other third party applications and suppliers, such as fulfillment and finance.

● Price list updates ○ Website ○ PDF documents ○ POS software uploads ○ External documents

● GP calculations for commission structures ● Oncon and retail

○ Price points ○ POS software integration

> DATABASE MANAGEMENT

The database is at the heart of a direct marketing business such as Rosendal Wines. An existing customer database is effectively segmented and a detailed understanding is required to massage the database and improve its ability to create sales.

● Information officer for POPI act implementation ● POPI act roll-out plan and team education ● Subscriber list management ● Growth strategies ● Segmentation ● Customer understanding ● Detailed insights

An additional marketing database is used and grown by various means to achieve the the new customer acquisition target and improve the marketing ability of the brand.

> EVENTS

Various events are tried and tested within the overall marketing plan to increase sales, move merchandise and create new accounts. Brand visibility and reach together with targeted sales and data collection are key at these points of contact.

● Manage and plan home tastings at client hosted venues ● Marketing collateral ● Tasting stock management ● Keep an updated schedule and calendar ● Promote the brand

> WINE COMPETITIONS

With a limited marketing spend, the practice of wine competitions are used to demonstrate our commitment to quality wines. The strategy utilises all in-house marketing components and also that of the competition itself to promote the brand. The strategy includes the most prominent award ceremonies:

● IWSC ● Michelangelo ● Veritas ● Platter’s Wine Guide ● Concours Mondial

Marketing responsibilities include:

● Keep updated schedule and calendar of events ● Manage entries, samples and documentation ● Manage results via internal and external communication ● Maximise PR exposure

But the communication plan also targets other wine award ceremonies, as it forges a talking point for the sales team and creates online content in line with the overall marketing and communication strategy.

> IT AND SOFTWARE

Salesforce is the master provider of CRM services to Rosendal Wines. The marketing department administers, manages and develops this software to be of optimal use the entire team - from directors to third party fulfillment partners. This machine is also the heart of communication and database management and requires daily input and management.

● SalesForce administration ● Third party application administration (such as telephony, payment gateways etc.) ● Current and new user management (Salesforce accounts, telephony integration, email) ● Compile detailed reporting ● Manage relationships with third party developers ● Brief development projects and infrastructure changes

> CUSTOMER CARE

Our customers are our daily bread and therefore the marketing department manages all replies to compliments and complaints. This function also strives to create positive reviews for the brand and all of its products to enable the achievement of the overall operational plan of the business.

● Live chat website queries and support ● Customer complaints and compliments ● Review collation and management ● Social media community management ● Automated transactional information and surveys

> MARKETING CALENDAR

A marketing calendar is key to the communications function of Rosendal Wines. A regularly updated calendar ensure the entire team is aware of production forecasts, product launches, key programme dates and various other days with marketing interest. It therefore helps to create an enabling sales environment.

● Manage calendar ● Visibly display marketing and production calendar ● Incorporate days of interest (such as International Sauvignon Blanc Day, Black Friday, Cyber

Monday etc.) ● Possible marketing opportunities

○ Events ○ Key planning dates

> GENERAL MANAGEMENT

In addition to the overarching high level marketing, brand and communication management functions, other areas of management is required to fulfill all duties of the Rosendal marketing department. This all-rounder approach includes, but are not limited to:

● Marketing budget oversight and planning ● External supplier management ● Capture and distribute detailed minutes ● Weekly sales leader board distribution ● Attend weekly management meetings ● Present monthly operational reports ● All sales and marketing reporting and presentations ● Monthly sales team marketing meetings and projections ● Annual general meeting and strategy planning arrangements, presentations and insights ● POPI act systems development ● Official information officer