ROSES ARE RED, ROSÉS ARE BLUE
Yep, you read that right. In 2016, winemaker Stephanie Rivin and entrepreneur Roger Scommegna came to us with French Blue, a French-made wine crafted with Bordeaux varietals, being the Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot. How do two California natives and a wine that s indigenous to France end up in our Third Ward office? It s actually pretty simple. Roger s a partner of SoulBoxer, so you could say he was familiar with our work on the uncommonly classic cocktail brand. He and Stephanie loved what we were doing with SoulBoxer, from the story to the website to our social game, and they loved the community we had built around the product. And in turn, we loved their wine. So, we decided to meet them on their own turf. 2
A bunch of Savages loaded up on a flight to catch some fun in the sun. Well, it actually rained for the entire four days we spent on Stephanie s stomping grounds, but hey, it was still four days out of the office. Although our first night in town we had dinner with Roger, our main focus was Stephanie. According to Roger, Stephanie was the real story. Our discovery in California wasn t so much a discovery of French Blue, but more a discovery of Stephanie, says Andy Lueneburg who was the project coordinator at the time. WINE COUNTRY, CALIFORNIA 3
We d come here knowing that Stephanie was a winemaker, sommelier, and overall extraordinaire, but what else? What was important to her? What mattered most? What inspired her to create this delightful summer wine? To find out, we immersed ourselves in Stephanie s world. We did wine tastings with her and her friends, had dinner with her family. What we found out was that, not only does she know everything there is to know about wine, she s also a pretty cool lady. As we dug deeper, we began to understand why the sense of community was so vital to the French Blue brand. A DELIGHTFUL DISCOVERY The town of Booneville very much mirrors the story of French Blue, says Andy. It s not a pretentious wine, or from a big city, or hugely expensive. It has this small town feel, this ability to bring people together and be in the moment. 4
SACRÉ BLEU! Upon returning to Savage HQ, we were too energized to be gotten down by jet lag. We d had the flight home to think about our new challenges. Challenge #1: Even though Stephanie and Roger wanted us to do something similar to what we d done with SoulBoxer, French Blue was nothing like SoulBoxer, the main difference being that French Blue was a seasonal product. Available exclusively in Whole Foods, once it was out, it was out. We d have to find ways to keep the brand alive and relevant between runs. Challenge #2: French Blue s Instagram account was currently following and being followed by hundreds of the wrong people. Not to say they re bad people; they just weren t potential customers. We would need to develop a community relevant to French Blue and decide how we wanted to speak to them. 5
Before we tackled either of those challenges, developing the brand voice was the first step to moving forward. We worked with Roger and Stephanie to cultivate a voice that was the right blend of country and refinement, and built a simple, elegant website. Then, we took to social. We started by cleaning up French Blue s existing Instagram account. We unfollowed the people who weren t right for supporting the brand, and followed all the right people - people with whom we could engage and were excited about the product. It was scary at first, watching our numbers plummet, but we trusted in the process. To build anticipation for the official launch of French Blue returning to Whole Foods on April 4, 2018, we implemented a ten-day countdown that was a blend of photography and animation. We wanted to create something different that would stand out in the category, and we thought illustration would really speak to our target audience, says Associate Art Director, Kim Kelley. It was just a fun, refreshing idea for the brand. CRISP, CLEAN, REFRESHING 6
In addition to our countdown, we also held contests and giveaways, in which we gifted branded stemless glasses and wine keys to fans, encouraging them to share photos of themselves enjoying French Blue with friends or while relaxing. We made other graphics and countdowns to holidays like The Fourth of July, National Rosé Day, as well as short animated videos showing the making of French Blue and its arrival from France to Whole Foods in America. SIP, SIP, ROSÉ! An important component of building a relationship with our audience was self-awareness. We acknowledged our melancholy when French Blue was out of season. We answered their questions and commented on their posts. Remember when we said we lost a lot of followers in the beginning? By summer s end, we d more than doubled our fan base. 7
While we were busy designing collateral and generating followers on social media, Stephanie and Roger decided they should have a website. Our then Studio Director (now Creative Director) Mark Hungsberg, returned to California specifically to capture photography and video assets. Intended as a resource for mainly retailers and distributors, the website we built for French Blue was clean and simple with a sell sheet detailing everything they needed to know to get French Blue into their stores. Our paths have since diverged when Stephanie moved to France to further her business. We re glad to have been a part of French Blue s 2018 launch and our success in building an engaged audience. AU REVOIR 8