Marketing Zombie Zin and Other Wines For Millennials
The other day, while I was browsing the wine section at the local grocery store, something stopped me in my tracks. It was the bottle pictured below, featuring a punk-looking zombie staring back out at me. The picture had done its job.
The Zombie Zin is a Zinfandel blend (95% Zinfandel, 5% Syrah) produced by Chateau Diana, a family-owned and -operated winery that's been in the Sonoma Valley region since 1981. According to the website, the wine's aromas are ripe, the flavors are complex and rich, and it's best paired with "bloody BBQ meats, sinister soups with eye of newt, bubbly caldron of fleshy stew." Most shockingly, it's not just a special Halloween-themed wine, but a top seller that's been on shelves for years.
To find out more about the brand, I called up Corey Manning, the president of Chateau Diana.
How long have you been selling Zombie Zin?
Corey Manning: Eight years. I've always been a fan of zombies, and had worked on a brand design very similar years before, but it was never an appropriate time in the marketplace. But eight years ago, we were talking to Cost Plus about developing new wine brands, and it was just perfect timing. All of these other millennial brands were coming out -- people started to want different types of label designs, fun types of label designs -- and it was also the start of "The Walking Dead" series. It was kind of a perfect storm with the brand.
What do you mean by "millennial brands," exactly?
Corey: A lot of the brands that are out right now are nontraditional brands. We have another brand that's called Jawbreaker, and that has an image of skulls. Or another brand called Candy Babee. These brands are fun types that we're gearing mainly towards the millennial age demographic.
How are millennials different?
Corey: They tend to gravitate towards more fun, kind-of-edgy labels, but also they gravitate towards different types of wine. They're a non-traditional wine drinker, in the sense that they're not going to enter into the industry from the category of a Chardonnay or a white Zinfandel, like years ago. They're going in with a pink Moscato or a Riesling.
So, the Zombie Zin has been selling well?
Corey: It's grown exponentially, particularly in the past five years. The sales have demonstrated that it has no intent of slowing down anytime soon. Which is why we just came out with a Zombie Zin Reserve package, and it's a little more definitive blend of Zinfandel. It's at a higher price. And we have plans to continually come out with new, other types of off-shoot brands in the future.
Do stuffy, more traditional wine sellers scoff at this kind of thing?
Corey: Not really. Honestly, there are people that won't go into marketing towards millennial drinkers and the younger drinkers, because it's really a fast-changing dynamic. I'm sure you notice, but they change their minds about things. They don't tend to give many second chances, they're a little more pessimistic in terms of corporate brands and things like that. So, for a lot of traditional wineries, they don't even want to venture into that type of space. But I think most people see the absolute merit of a lot of these brands, because if it wasn't for these brands, the overall wine industry would be flat and it would decrease our sales position.
Finally, most importantly, what's your favorite zombie movie?
Corey: My current favorite movie, along with my kid, is "World War Z." I love the book.
