Super Bowl Push Fuels Early 2018 Sales For Yellow Tail

A year ago, Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits’ Yellow Tail became the first wine brand in almost four decades to advertise during the Super Bowl. With the brand set to return to the big game for a second time on February 4, Deutsch Family president Tom Steffanci tells SND that the excitement around the Super Bowl effort has generated improved performance for Yellow Tail over the first month of this year.

“Our new Super Bowl ad tested even higher than last year’s, and we believe the response and impact will be even greater,” Steffanci says. “Month to date sales are trending at +9% versus last year and we expect the accelerated growth to continue through early February.”

Featuring spokesperson Yellow Tail Guy and his kangaroo sidekick, the new spot accounts for around $5 million of Yellow Tail’s overall annual media spend of $10.3 million, and will be accompanied by online video and social components on YouTube, Hulu, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat. The TV commercial will run in 80 markets, up from 70 in 2017, and is expected to reach 3 million more consumers than last year.

“The first spot of the new campaign that aired last year during the Super Bowl focused on showing a variety of occasions where you might typically expect to find beer or spirits but instead you find Yellow Tail,” Steffanci notes. “This spot focuses on just one occasion—a surprise party—and it allows us more time to tell one story with an element of surprise and more humor.”

A partnership between Deutsch and Australia’s Casella family, Yellow Tail ($6.99 a 750-ml.) is the fifth-largest wine brand in the U.S., selling around 7.8 million nine-liter cases annually. Lately, the brand has been fighting an uphill battle as consumers have migrated toward higher pricing tiers in the wine market, slipping 1.9% in Nielsen channels and 0.8% in IRI channels in 2017.

“The price tier in which Yellow Tail competes ($4-$7) is a difficult one,” Steffanci admits. “That price segment is declining about 4.5%, if you exclude bag-in-box.” The good news, he says, is that the brand has steadily gained share since the new campaign launched, and Deutsch’s research shows that last year’s Super Bowl spot helped bring new consumers into the franchise. —Christina Jelski

Tagged : Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits, Super Bowl, Yellow Tail

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