After 40 years making wine in the high deserts of southern New Mexico, St. Clair was in search of a wider audience that would appreciate their local roots, standout wines and commitment to the state. The Esparza team created a brand story, brand identity and cross-platform campaign that would appeal to the new target without alienating their core customer base.
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For nearly 40 years, St. Clair wines have been crafted in New Mexico, using grapes
grown in the high deserts of the southern reaches of the state. The brand’s commitment to quality, its wide range of red and white varietals, and its New Mexico roots, make it a standout in the local wine market.
However, with an outdated label design and no solidified brand identity, St. Clair wines were getting lost in an increasingly competitive local wine market. They needed a fully built out brand identity and updated look and feel in order to draw in a new, younger audience of wine drinkers and to stand out on grocery store shelves.
The Esparza team leaned into St. Clair’s deep roots in the state to shape a brand identity and messaging strategy that was centered around the look, feel and history of Southern New Mexico, where St. Clair wines are created.
The first step was to create a cohesive brand story and design system that could be applied across platforms, including labels for more than 15 varietals, point-of-purchase merchandising, event collateral, merchandise, digital platforms and a new website. Once the design system was in place and the labels themselves were in-market, the team set to work delivering a new website property that would incorporate the brand identity and story.
The campaign as a whole launched at the New Mexico Wine Festival with a brand unveiling, including the new bottles and labels, new merchandise, and social media activations throughout the event.
The event launch was followed with an integrated campaign that targeted two main audiences: new customers and loyal St. Clair devotees. It was vital to get the new brand identity in front of a new, younger audience with a bold campaign that spoke to the wine’s local roots and highlighted it as the best plus-one to any dinner party. As such the social media influencer strategy was key to getting the brand in front of a new generation of wine drinkers. At the same time, the campaign needed to reassure St. Clair’s long-standing, core customer base that their favorite wine hadn’t gone anywhere, it just had a new party dress on.
The overall campaign positioned St. Clair wine as an essential part of any New Mexico dinner party, event or family occasion, inviting New Mexicans to make the wine a part of their family tradition.
The end result was a fully fleshed out brand strategy, including a new logo, label design, website property, merchandise line and ad campaign that tells the story of St. Clair wines to a New Mexico audience.
Deliverables for the effort as a whole included:
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