Building brand salience for commodity‐based wine regions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss how a wine region should develop and position its brand using the best worst scaling (BWS) approach. A better understanding of the features that characterize a wine region is critical when raising the profile of a region and trying to capture wine consumers’ share of mind. Design/methodology/approach – In this study, the degree of importance was measured of 13 features that can represent and characterize a wine region currently perceived as commodity‐based, using a questionnaire designed for the BWS approach. Findings – The results mainly showed key similarities between the consumers and wine professionals regarding the features that can activate to raise the profile of the region. Findings also contradict the positioning recommended by industry groups and consultants. Research limitations/implications – Using an original way to assess and measure features that would support regional brand salience, these findings confirmed the importance given to geographical names as well as activating a set of features. Practical implications – The paper's findings suggest that the Riverland or any commodity‐based wine region would benefit from using a set of features in order to build their brand salience than relying on one single feature. Originality/value – This paper provides preliminary findings showing the relevance of using the BWS approach when developing the key positioning messages for a wine region, or for other brands.