QUARTERLY REPORTQ1 REPORTAPRIL, MAY, JUNE, 2024Celebrate the Wines of British Columbia
CELEBRATE THEWINES OF BRITISH COLUMBIACelebrate the Wines of British Columbia provides a quarterly review of Wine Growers British Columbia (WGBC) activities, including marketing, communications, advocacy and more. This issue covers the first quarter (Q1) of Fiscal Year 2025 (FY’25): April, May, and June of 2024, in support of the objectives laid out in the WGBC Operational Plan and Wine BC 2030 Long-Term Strategic Plan.CELEBRATE THE WINES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA | FY’25 - Q1
In the first quarter of this fiscal year, the Wine Growers British Columbia team eectively executed marketing and communications strategies to promote 100% BC wine. The annual BC wine month campaign featured themed assets and messaging as well as impactful influencer partnerships to boost awareness of BC wine quality and BC winery experiences, especially important in light of the widely publicized narrative of BC wine inventory challenges. The team stretched to accommodate a high level of interest from winery and trade partners in hosting Wines of BC Ambassador Level Two classes, seeing a record number of certifications issued. WGBC also strengthened relationships between BC wineries and restaurants through the Pour More BC program, sponsorship of the Sommelier of the Year award with Vancouver Magazine, and the release of a suite of educational resources on the 2023 vintage. In alignment with our FY’25 strategic focus on tourism, the WGBC team also executed joint initiatives with Tourism Cowichan, Tourism Kelowna, Tourism Abbotsford, Kootenay Rockies Tourism, Visit Penticton, Destination Osoyoos, and Destination BC. CELEBRATE THE WINES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA | FY’25 - Q1A MESSAGE FROM MILES PRODANCEO & President
In Q1, our advocacy eorts to promote BC wine and foster industry cohesion were robust. On the heels of a March 2024 announcement of an enhanced replant program, WGBC continues to work closely with the BC Wine Grape Council, BC Grapegrowers’ Association, and Ministry of Agriculture to contribute to program guidelines and roll out, expected this fall. WGBC also collaborated with Wine Growers Canada this spring on multiple fronts including meetings on Parliament Hill. We were pleased with federal announcements on a three year extension to the Wine Sector Support program and excise duty relief for Canadian winegrowers. Specific to WGBC membership, our board facilitated direct discussions between members and Save-On-Foods Wines of BC store leadership to alleviate concerns and explore ways to grow the BC wine category. The Wine Growers British Columbia board also launched the WGBC Governance Task Group in response to a notice of special resolution from 10% of membership seeking to amend board structure and bylaws. Over Q1 the Task Group executed a thorough RFP process resulting in the selection of Watson Advisors Inc as a third party consultant to assist in making governance recommendations to the board, with the intention of having any bylaw changes up for consideration at the September 2024 AGM. CELEBRATE THE WINES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA | FY’25 - Q1A MESSAGE FROM PAUL SAWLERBoard Chair
OBJECTIVE 1BUILD A WORLD-CLASS BRANDFOR “WINES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA”Wine Growers BC will work towards this through strategically (a) building consumer, trade and media awareness of BC wines through education and training, (b) increasing market share of certified 100% BC wines in the $20-39.99 price band, and (c) developing and implementing marketing assets and messaging to increase winery and trade adoption of Wines of BC campaigns.CELEBRATE THE WINES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA | FY’25 - Q1
CELEBRATE THE WINES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA | FY’25 - Q1METRICS● Wines of BC had a media heavy FY’24 making increased coverage for FY’25 a stretch goal. Q1 is o to a gradual start however coverage is tagged as 98% positive/ neutral, an improvement over FY’24 at 23% read the full report here.● Strong opening for Wines of BC Ambassador Level One certifications, reaching just under halfway to our goal for the year in Q1 alone.● Q1 features Wines of BC’s largest annual campaign (BC Wine Month) and included multiple digital marketing collaborations. We achieved our goal of keeping our cost per impression (CPM) under $5.00. This metric is an important indicator that our return on ad spend is high and our marketing is having an impact on our audience.MEDIA COVERAGE AMBASSADOR LEVEL 1 CERTIFICATIONSCPM FOR Q1Achieved: $532,346 Goal: $16,320,000Achieved: 364 Goal: 750$0 $5 $10Goal to keep under $5.00 - industry Average = $7.12OBJECTIVE 1
Q1 TACTICS SUMMARYCELEBRATE THE WINES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA | FY’25 - Q1OBJECTIVE 1● Facilitated high profile media guest Joanne Sasvari visit to Vancouver Island with particular focus on securing coverage to raise the profile of sparkling wine from the region as well as winery experiences available.● Campaigns driving content over Q1 included April is BC Wine Month, Sip, Smile & Stay Awhile, Pour More BC Spring, and Mother’s Day in BC Wine Country. These campaigns prioritized growing BC wine tourism and BC wine purchases through the winery, retail, and restaurant channels.● Delivered several communications including key messages, visual assets, and media releases to encourage industry cross promotion of the two core campaigns from Q1 (April is BC Wine Month, and Sip, Smile & Stay Awhile).● To increase the impact of the Sip, Smile & Stay Awhile campaign Wines of BC engaged with select influencers including @UncorkBCWine (8k followers) featuring wine touring in Okanagan Falls and Skaha Bench.● April is BC Wine Month also benefited from new influencer partnerships, including with @JustinPasutto (217k) to promote local tourism, and @Luke_Flunders_Wine_World (153k) to build the Wines of BC brand with his international audience.● Wines of BC developed authentic and exciting content outside of but complementary to our active campaigns to counteract BC wine inventory misinformation with ‘Yes we have wine’ and ‘Plenty of Wine’ reels.
OBJECTIVE 2POSITION BC AS A PREMIERWINE REGION WITH THE TRADEWine Growers BC will work towards this objective through strategically (a) creating meaningful touchpoints between member wineries and key trade, media, and influencers, (b) making the Wines of BC Ambassador Program the industry standard for BC wine education, and (c) aligning export opportunities with available funding and resources.CELEBRATE THE WINES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA | FY’25 - Q1
CELEBRATE THE WINES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA | FY’25 - Q1METRICS● Wine Growers BC hosted a full schedule of 18 classes to achieve a high level of certifications issued and the program received high profile coverage from content creator @JustinPasutto.● Through a strong Pour More BC campaign this spring promoting BC wine features and winemakers dinners at BC restaurants, we are over halfway towards our goal of 5% increase in Pour More BC page views.● Wines of BC Ambassador Level 3 development is currently on hold.● Over one deployment of ‘The Pulp’ trade e-newsletter, we maintained our goal open rate of 45% by including engaging content such as Vintage 2023 highlights, announcing the Sommelier of the Year, and oering free marketing support to BC restaurants.AMBASSADOR LEVEL 2 CERTIFICATIONSAMBASSADOR LEVEL 3 DEVELOPMENTINCREASED PAGE VIEWS ON POUR MORE BCAchieved: 276 Goal: 500 Ideation > Development > TestingAchieved: 19,517 views Goal: 34,530 (+5% over FY’24)THE PULP TRADE NEWSLETTER OPEN RATEAchieved: 45% Goal: Maintain 45%OBJECTIVE 2
Q1 TACTICS SUMMARYCELEBRATE THE WINES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA | FY’25 - Q1OBJECTIVE 2● Continued eort to promote the Wines of BC Ambassador Program as the industry standard for BC wine education including the forming of a partnership with the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers (CAPS) to explore opportunities to oer Level One and Two with chapters across the country.● Engaged the Marketing and Communications Committee to guide Wine Growers BC eorts representing members interests in planning the annual media and trade fall tasting (Swirl Around BC), as well as in the development of signage in Save-on-Foods Wines of BC Stores distinguishing 100% BC wine on shelf.● Partnered with BC Liquor Stores to promote BC VQA Release on various digital channels.● Q1 featured enhancements to the Pour More BC program including: ○ Active recruitment through direct outreach to restaurants resulting in 12 new sign ups;○ Launch of a unique promo code for sta of Pour More BC restaurants to access both levels of the Wines of BC Ambassador Program;○ Winery collaboration document to connect members and key restaurant contacts;○ Notice to restaurants and wineries alike of marketing focus on winemakers dinners to encourage partnerships to host these events.● Published two articles in the trade magazine ‘Orchard & Vine’ featuring the release of the 2023 BC Wine Vintage Report, and on new winery experiences launching this summer.
OBJECTIVE 3MAKE BC WINE COUNTRY ABENCHMARK FOR WINE TOURISMWine Growers BC will work towards this objective through strategically (a) developing authentic place and experience narratives for all nine of BC’s wine regions, (b) collaborating with regional wine associations and tourism organizations on shared initiatives and existing festivals and events, and (c) focusing digital marketing on key customer segments to increase year-round tourism.CELEBRATE THE WINES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA | FY’25 - Q1
CELEBRATE THE WINES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA | FY’25 - Q1METRICS● Core campaigns active in Q1 (April is BC Wine Month and Sip, Smile & Stay Awhile) drove trac to WineBC.com resulting in 144k views, roughly 22% towards our goal of increased pageviews to WineBC.com for this fiscal year.● ‘The Vine’ reached 31,231 subscribers at the end of Q1 with high engagement metrics of 45% open rate and 7% click through rate.● Our engagement rate for Q1 is lower than anticipated, attributable to turnover at our ad agency resulting in an unbalanced focus on CPM. The agency has adjusted the strategy appropriately and we expect to see improved results in Q2.INCREASED PAGE VIEWS ON WINEBC.COMINCREASE VINE SUBSCRIBERSINCREASE ENGAGEMENT RATE ACROSS ALL CONSUMER DIGITAL CHANNELSAchieved: 144,000 views Goal: 663,300 (+10% over FY’24)Achieved: 142 Goal: 2,000Achieved: 2.41% Goal: 10%OBJECTIVE 3
Q1 TACTICS SUMMARYCELEBRATE THE WINES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA | FY’25 - Q1OBJECTIVE 3● Improvements to user experience on WineBC.com including the refinement of menu navigation and the launch of winery listings to assist consumers in trip planning and winery discovery. Winery listings are also now featured on regional pages.● Contributed to evolution of the DBC Co-Op Marketing Program. As an industry sector, WGBC applies for tourism funding under his program each year.● Established a new BC Wine Tourism Committee including representatives from winery and tourism associations across all nine BC wine regions. The committee’s purpose is to work collaboratively to share, amplify, and coordinate marketing eorts to support BC wine tourism.● Invited our social channel audience to subscribe to ‘The Vine’ newsletter.● Published video reels outside of campaign messaging to ensure authentic content mix including those for Earth Day and Mother’s Day.● Orchestrated collaborative posting to reach a wider audience and drive higher engagement numbers on tourism focused content including partnerships with @KootRocks @VisitArrowSlocan @CowichanTourism @Thompson_Okanagan @OsoyoosBC @VisitPenticton @SimilkameenBC @Tourism Abbotsford.● In alignment with our FY’25 heightened focus on promoting winery tourism, WGBC partnered with Nanaimo Airport, Kelowna Airport, Cowichan Tourism, Kelowna Tourism, and Pacific Coastal to drive trac to BC wineries via a Dream Trip Giveaway contest.
OBJECTIVE 4STRENGTHEN WINE INDUSTRY LEADERSHIPWine Growers BC will work towards this objective through strategically (a) collaborating with industry associations on shared initiatives, and (b) developing and implementing member education tactics to increase awareness of WGBC programs and membership value perception.CELEBRATE THE WINES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA | FY’25 - Q1
METRICS● Achieved a 99% retention rate in membership. We ended Q1 with 207 member wineries: 189 full members and 18 associate.● Gauging member value perception is planned for Q4. ● Communications resonated highly with our industry audience, over Q1 we exceeded our goal of a 52% average open rate by 8%. The highest engagement was on topics of governance review, the AGLC trade dispute, and policy changes to Picnic Area service.MEMBER RETENTION RATEMEMBER VALUE PERCEPTIONMEMBER COMMUNICATIONS OPEN RATEAchieved: 99% Goal: 90%Measurement planned for Q4, goal of 70%Achieved: 60% Goal: 52%OBJECTIVE 4CELEBRATE THE WINES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA | FY’25 - Q1
Q1 TACTICS SUMMARYCELEBRATE THE WINES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA | FY’25 - Q1OBJECTIVE 4● Q1 saw the launch of the Member Account Management Initiative: assigning one Wine Growers British Columbia team member to each full member winery. The account manager will provide personalized one-on-one support to help members utilize WGBC programs for their business.● As part of the Account Management Initiative full member wineries were introduced to their unique winery listing on WineBC.com and given the opportunity to update imagery and add new features like ‘EV Charging Station’ and ‘Instagram Worthy Setting’.● Published x3 resources for industry to promote the 2023 vintage BC wines: the well established BC Wine Vintage Report and NEW regional one pagers and ten year vintage guide.● Partnered with the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch to oer a webinar for BC wineries on the changes to the Picnic Area, Mobile Sales from an on-site store, guided tours and sampling policy.● Collaborated with Destination British Columbia to provide member wineries participating in the Cultivating Experiences Program with resource and marketing support. WGBC and DBC coordinated a filming and FAM tour schedule to ensure (a) visual assets were available to promote the winery experience, and (b) tourism DMO and industry professionals were aware of the new experiences.● Once again volunteered a WGBC representative for the planning committee of the Southern Interior Horticulture Show, set to take place in February 2025.
OBJECTIVE 5LEVERAGE GOVERNMENTADVOCACY EFFORTSWine Growers BC will work towards this objective through strategically (a) supporting the BC wine industry to remain viable and minimize financial and employment impacts, and (b) coordinating activities with both provincial and federal industry stakeholder groups and organizations.CELEBRATE THE WINES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA | FY’25 - Q1
CELEBRATE THE WINES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA | FY’25 - Q1METRICS● Q1 saw progress on the metrics associated with Objective 5, reflected by the ‘green light’ OBJECTIVE 5Establishment of government policy and programming to support BC grapegrowers and wineries to ensure the sustainability and profitability of the BC wine Maintain key existing industry public policy
Q1 TACTICS SUMMARYCELEBRATE THE WINES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA | FY25 - Q1OBJECTIVE 5● Met with Deputy Premier and BC Solicitor General Mike Farnworth and senior sta from his Ministry, including the LDB and LCRB. outlining specific policy levers to support the BC wine industry in the current challenging times.● The Ministry of Agriculture and Food announced a new Enhanced Replant Program that will provide as much as $70 million to growers.● Request of the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food with assistance for temporary relief from ALR Use Regulations aecting the BC wine industry.● Meeting with Premier David Eby and MLA Roly Russell regarding temporary extension of markup concession and BC VQA rebate to non-BC wine.● Stakeholder engagement following WGBC Board's conclusion to allow restricted sales of non-BC wine through the Save-On-Foods (SOF) operated wine stores, including hosting a Town Hall with SOF Wine Director Steve Moriarty.● Hosted “Doing Business with BCLS” with Executive Director Michael Procopio, Director of Merchandising Natalie Schiewe and VQA Category Manager Barbara Philip.● Agriculture and Agri-Food announced an extension to the Wine Sector Support Program (WSSP). With an investment of up to $177 million over the next 3 years.