How Black Tower tapped into the biggest drinking trend of summer 2020

With summer drawing to a close, a look back on the past few months reveals Rosé to be one of the biggest drinking trends of summer 2020, with much loved wine brand Black Tower at the forefront of this boom. As consumers turned to this increasingly popular style during lockdown, Black Tower witnessed a 61% rise in sales of their new-look Rosé, tapping into the resurgence of pink wine across the country in the past months.

Rosé Renaissance
Black Tower saw an increase in Rosé sales of 61% across the multiples when comparing average sales pre and post-lockdown. The rising popularity of Rosé is also supported by the staggering rise in overall wine sales during the coronavirus pandemic, with an increased spending of £151.4m during the first week of lockdown compared to the same week in 2019. 1

Ian Wingate, Black Tower’s UK National Account Director commented:
“The growth of Rosé wines has been one of the biggest success stories of the last 10 years. The trend towards lighter styles has been significant and today Rosé is being treated as a versatile and fun wine that appeals to a range of wine consumers, from Boomers to Gen Y.”

“Black Tower is certainly benefiting from this year’s increase in Rosé demand. It has an easy-drinking fruity style, a brand-new look and represents excellent value-for-money. Our priority during lockdown has been to ensure continuity of supply to our retailers so that our consumers can still enjoy the wines they love.”

What’s more, Kantar data shows that Black Tower Rosé is a firm favourite amongst consumers as it continues to gain market share from its competitor brands, with wine shoppers switching their spend to Black Tower Rosé from brands including Gallo, I Heart, Hardy’s and Blossom Hill. The data from June also showed that Black Tower Rosé shoppers are more valuable, spending more on wine, shopping more frequently and having higher value trips than other Rosé shoppers.2

Commenting on this trend, Ian continues: “Kantar data indicates that we are gaining from our key competitors and that Black Tower shoppers actually spend more per shop than other comparable Rosé brand shoppers. This is further good news for retailers, especially at a time when off-trade wine sales have been at an unprecedented high.’’

A New Look
The rise in sales and gain in market share comes as Black Tower’s recent brand refresh was revealed in April, which saw the brand’s iconic logo and black and red colour combination modernised. Pastel colours have been used to differentiate between grape varieties and the new look highlights the light, easy drinking style of the wine.

Commenting on the brand refresh Ian said: “Our marketing team has done a great job with the re-brand. In a crowded wine aisle, maximising shelf stand out is essential. Our research has showed us that the new Black Tower packaging really captures wine shoppers’ attention and scored highly against our competitors on the ‘’Most likely to be taken home’’ shopping simulation. This, combined with our new social media campaign, a surge in the popularity of rosé and clear consumer demand for great value-for-money, easy drinking wine has resulted in a very successful past few months for Black Tower.”

This recent success also coincides with the listing of Black Tower’s Smooth Red in Tesco stores across the UK as of 24 August 2020. With the SKU being stocked in 790 stores, Black Tower is further cementing its leading position in the growing category.

EDITOR’S NOTES
1. https://www.iriworldwide.com/en-gb
2. Kantar Worldpanel Purchase Panel – 52 w/e June 14 2020

About Black Tower
For over 50 years, Reh Kendermann’s Black Tower has stood the test of time and today it remains the No.1 wine brand from Germany. Along with the Rosé and Fruity White, the range also includes Silvaner Pinot Grigio, Riesling, Blush, Smooth Red, Sauvignon Blanc and Organic Hedgerow White, in addition to the enormously successful B by Black Tower 5.5% low alcohol range.

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