Hi everyone,
I thought I would share a few observations around the Cannonball wine and its "authenticity" after last week's class.
1) My wife and I stopped by Safeway Menlo Park this evening to purchase some wine and ingredients for dinner. The Cannonball was placed on a specialty display (similar to an end-cap, but not on an end) in the alcohol section. It was priced at $21.99, if you had a Safeway card. It wasn't entirely out-of-stock; however, it was certainly not at full stock. Perhaps this was because of the rain this weekend? There was definitely no concern around authenticity amongst consumers. It was stocked besides several authentic craft beer brands and other wineries, and nothing on the display, in any way, spoke to authenticity.
2) When I told my wife about the guest from Thursday night, her response was, "Cannonball, that's from Healdsburg, right? I think that's really nice...$70 bucks a bottle?"
3) I spoke with the founder after class about a parallel phenomenon in the craft beer business called 'Contract Brewing.' Craft Beer Enthusiasts, commonly called 'Hop Heads' loathe contract brewers. They view them as inauthentic entrepreneurs. The typical contract beer model goes something like this: Entrepreneurs with a unique branding idea rent brewing space and brewer employees from an established brewery and then brand the output as their own. This is very similar to what Cannonball is doing.
The really, die-hard enthusiasts hate contract manufacturers; however, the vast majority of the market doesn't care at all. In fact, they don't even know. The best example of this is 21st Amendment Brewing company. They are best known for their 'Mango Wheat' or Golden Gate Beer. Their branding is impeccable. Their growth rates are insane and they are found everywhere! However, few people know that the beer is brewed in rented space in rented tanks in Minnesota. They are expanding with a brewpub in SF, which seems authentic, but is it really?
My takeaway----the small amount of people who care about authenticity don't actually make a difference!
Tootles,
George
Hi George, it is fascinating that it is priced at $21.99 in Safeway, but I have seen it at $14.99 (full retail price) at Whole Foods!
ReplyDeleteI am wondering if that means Cannonball is seen as a quality product among Safeway consumers and thus priced higher; while Cannonball is seen as a value-for-money product among Whole Foods consumers and thus priced lower?
For me at least, it throws up a lot of interesting questions around how the two supermarkets are using pricing psychology to induce purchases.