Building on a relationship that began a year and a half ago, Marketing Drive has been named agency of record by Pernod Ricard USA for its entire portfolio of wines and Champagnes.
The work will encompass 17 brands, including Jacob’s Creek, Wyndham Estates and Perrier-Jouet and will involve approximately 55 programs annually.
This is in addition to Marketing Drive’s already existing role as agency of record for Pernod’s spirits division, which includes brands such as Kahlua, Jameson Irish Whiskey and The Glenlivet, which Marketing Drive won in 2006. In both cases, the work focuses on consumer promotion including all the ideation, strategy, creative development and execution for contests, sales materials and marketing communications.
“We’re definitely going to be doing some new and different things” with the wine business, said Gene Chmiel, chief creative officer for Marketing Drive.
This could include different marketing channels that Pernod might want to tap into and different ways to package and sell the brands into the sales force and distributors, he said.
“Some of the things that are on the horizon in the spirits and wine category are viral marketing, mobile marketing, text message marketing and word-of-mouth marketing,” Chmiel added.
According to Chmiel, one of the factors that played a key role in Marketing Drive’s account win is the agency’s ability to position campaigns for both mass-market and luxury brands.
The first work for the wine category will be out by the end of summer 2008. Marketing Drive is currently in the process of building a team to service the account.
Marketing Drive’s “strategic insights were dead on,” said Neal Larkin, director of promotions at Pernod Ricard USA, in a statement.
“We were not only impressed with their creative concepts, but their attention to detail and all the value-added components that they wove together to tell a great story,” he continued.
