By 
Editor of Hawke’s Bay Today Anthony Phillips was right on the money with his editorial last night.
Hawke’s Bay Wine Country is an ideal umbrella for tourism in the Bay. It captures the unique experience the region has to offer and should be single-mindedly positioned both domestically and internationally. It was a stroke of marketing brilliance when the Bay claimed wine country (much to the chagrin of Marlborough) and it seems ironic that it has not been embraced in marketing programs.
Rather, the everything to all people strategy seems to have been adopted with the resultant regional blanding. The Wine Country positioning is a logical platform for this region and best of all it already exists throughout the region. Let’s capitalise on it.
Kim Wicksteed
Advice Ltd
08:14, 27.05.2010
Here here Ant and Kim!
Why is it that when ever there’s a changing of the guard then there’s mooting of a change of the brand? I can understand someone wanting to make their mark – but to what detriment?
We have something that can work – it’s a matter of resourcing and funding something properly.
I can not believe that HB does not rank in the top 10 winter destinations – how the hell did that happen?
Venture HB is not performing and it’s not just one person’s fault!
Just how much will this current set back put us?
Hawke’s Bay collectively needs to get its s..t together.
10:24, 27.05.2010
Ant bought to my attention some weeks ago that there was talk of dropping the Wine Country brand because it was ‘too limiting’ – oh my gawd, how shortsighted is that? If Venture are so fixated on their ‘everything under the sun’ tag, then why not look at combining the two messages. “HAWKE’S BAY WINE COUNTRY-Everything Under The Sun”
Our brand is our identity, for HB to not be Wine Country doesn’t bear thinking about. We lost the Wine Capital to Christchurch (how did that happen?), the minute we let Wine Country go, Marlborough or Waiheke will pounce and we’ll be the laughing stock of the marketing and tourism world. Lets look at the people who are spending serious money in our region – they’re not here for Splash Planet or the Aquarium. They’re here for the Mission Concert, Art Deco Weekend, Harvest Hawke’s Bay, the Farmers Markets – all of which sit comfortably in our wine country identity. Why do people relocate to Hawke’s Bay from Auckland? It doesn’t take a genius to work out that its the sun and the sophisticated yet laid-back lifestyle that ‘wine country’ represents.
I regularly host incredibly wealthy international tourists on private wine tours of the region, they’re staying at Cape Kidnappers, Greenhill, the Black Barn Retreats or choppering in from Huka or Treetops. They come here to immerse themselves in Food, Wine, Golf, Fishing, our Art Deco architecture and our fantastic maori cultural experiences. They love our Wine Country brand, they feel its all-encompassing and very clever, and guess what they take it away with them. It is the perfect tourism branding vehicle because it represents a way of life, not just wine. The sooner the Venture people get their heads around that the better.
15:26, 27.05.2010
One of the attractions for us to shift here 12 years ago was the weather and smaller population. On a visit here before the decision was made we had lunch at Church Rd Winery and we just thought that it doesn’t get any better than this, to have a number of wineries on our back door step, so we shifted. The Hawke’s Bay Wine Country branding wasn’t around then but it’s a definite brand and we must grab and use it to promote the region. Famous brands are about positioning and consistency not about changing it every few years.
10:06, 28.05.2010
A classic case of the 3R’s of marketing ‘rebrand’ ‘relaunch’ and ‘resign’
11:33, 28.05.2010
But do we really believe in being New Zealand’s Wine Country?
Since posting this initial piece, I went to TRENZ in Auckland and discovered to my dismay how poorly Hawke’s Bay Wine Country was represented.
TRENZ is our tourism show case to world with almost 300 international buyers coming to check out what New Zealand tourism has to offer, to do deals and create their brochure packages and market the NZ experience to their clients.
There were hundreds of exhibitors from all around the country, Marlborough was well represented, as were all the wine regions yet Hawke’s Bay could only manage three 2 metre bays (even the West Coast had about 15 bays). Good on Mangapapa and the Crown Hotel and Venture Hawke’s Bay for being there.
But as for New Zealand’s premier wine tourism experience in Hawke’s Bay Wine Country, the must go NZ destination when it comes to experiencing superb wine and food – we simply weren’t there. I know the wine industry is having a tough time, but does it really believe in this brand promise?
Kim
19:29, 31.05.2010
Well that’s disappointing for the region. So many questions…
Did tourism operators not know about TRENZ?
Who was responsible for getting them excited about going to TRENZ?
I thought we were trying to increase tourism numbers to HB, how are we actually doing that if we’re not promoting at events like TRENZ?
Why was the Hawke’s Bay turnout so pathetic?
Such a shame.
11:50, 12.06.2010
It’s an utter disgrace that HB was not being showcased at this event.
Understand that for some tourism operators that it could be expensive but who is collectively responsible for putting Hawke’s Bay up against other regions?
From what I hear HB was an embarrassment!
How are we supposed to scream from the roof tops about how great our region is apart from a cheesy cartoon called Everything under the Sun?
Someone or some organisation needs to take some leadership – we’re only 15 odd months away from the World Cup. We now have some great news about some major infrastructure projects – the airport and the opportunity for a velodrome.
It seems HBWCA is getting really active and organised so erhaps we should all get behind them.
16:08, 12.06.2010
I think all of the comments are on the money here. Do remember we “nicked”Wine Country from Nappa Valley who had it before us for some time. I agree with the expand on it theory – something simple around Wine Country like Wine & Food Country (just an example not too serious!!) but you get the gsit of it
21:02, 13.07.2010
I totally agree re: the poor turnout by Hawke’s Bay tourism operators at TRENZ. I was exhibiting (I run a major Auckland based tourism amenity) and was absolutely aghast when I saw how little Hawke’s Bay was showcasing. Having lived all of my formative years in the Bay I know how much the region has to offer from a visitation perspective.
From my experience the quality and scope of representation at major tourism trade fairs is directly linked to the quality of leadership and advocacy of the regional tourism organisation (in this instance Venture Hawke’s Bay). So the current RTO structure definitely needs a long hard look at it to determine if it is fit for purpose and also to see if it is effectively engaging with the industry.
From a branding perspective I think there is merit in retaining the “Wine Country” label, however I think we need to create a more compelling total brand experience. What we really need is a well thought out brand strategy, establishing what our value propositions are and then market specific tactics that allow us to deliver on the brand promise.