12 Sep 2014 12:17pm
Wolf Blass's new partnership with the Cricket World Cup will be supported by a huge advertising campaign and a range of innovative activations.
Wolf Blass's new partnership with the Cricket World Cup will be supported by a huge advertising campaign and a range of innovative activations.
The Treasury Wine Estate brand has signed a short-term partnership with the International Cricket Council's premier event, to be played in Australia and New Zealand next year, and Wolf Blass marketing director Lisa Saunders said the deal would be supported by a "significant" ad buy.
Wolf Blass last week launched a $4 million campaign across TV and digital media, focussing its 2000 spots during events such as the AFL and NRL finals series, and Saunders said a second round of advertising would be used during January's World Cup sponsorship.
The second campaign will be of similar magnitude to the current program and will air primarily during Channel Nine's live broadcast of Australia's games and the tournament final.
Wolf Blass has previously sponsored Cricket Australia and the English Cricket Board - both positions now held by rival wine label Hardys - and Saunders conceded that Hardy's will have some peripheral exposure during the tournament.
"We're expecting Hardy's to still be active with their CA partnership, but when it comes to broadcast and leveraging at the event, we will have priority and I expect we'll be the number one brand in the market at that time," she said.
Saunders said that increased media presence through both above and below the line marketing would combine sales, pourage and signage in-ground with the exposure that above the line advertising offers, as well as protect its position as official partner.
"It's obviously not the answer for small-scale tactical assets, but Wolf Blass sees those major sporting events as the best fit for our profile."
The huge campaign is part of the 50% increase in Treasury's overall marketing budget, first reported by Sponsorship News earlier this year, in response to flagging sales of TWE brands.
Not ruling out other TWE deals: Saunders
Saunders confirmed that Wolf Blass was still looking at other potential sponsorship opportunities.
"We have a year-round program to keep a continual presence in the market and further sponsorships may be a part of that," she said.
"We're being careful to remain focussed, it's not good to be associated with every sport - we want to develop a fully integrated campaign around every asset."