It appears that this notion already resonates with Chinese consumers. I found an interesting article from current Knight Fellow, Julie Makinen, that describes the power of California in China. She mentions that several Chinese companies have "California" as part of their trademarked names and that for younger Chinese, California brings up "feelings of escape, exile and … a dreaming land."
Napa wineries have an opportunity to channel these existing "good vibes" toward California into revenue if they strategically align their image with that of California.
Ellen - this point is incredibly salient. I wonder if a there might be a way to build this image using a mobile/social platform like WeChat or WeiBo relatively cheaply for a small winery.
ReplyDeleteWe touched on it briefly in class, but my general sense was that we concluded that a small, luxury brand would get swallowed by social media. I wonder if a business like the fictional Frederick Family Wines might be able to follow in the footsteps of luxury American brands like Otte to build a brand via social (check out: http://fashionista.com/2015/08/fashion-brands-wechat-weibo) using authenticity and investment in the platform to overcome the noise created by so many users.
This article also talks about partnering with local bloggers. I've been out of the game for a while, but popular travel bloggers might be great influencers to target initially (to lend some credibility to that California vibe!).