Wolf Blass is a well-known Australian wine brand named after its founder Wolf Blass, a German immigrant, often cited as having been a major force in improving both the quality of Australian wines and encouraging a wine drinking culture in
Australia (Dunphy and Lockshin1998; Smith and Marsh2007). The brand and its wines became part of the multinational giant Fosters in 1996 and is now part of the Treasury Wines Estates, a spinoff company established in 2011 during a demerger
of Fosters (TWE2012). The Wolf Blass brand is associated with premium wines
and these are exported to more than 50 countries globally (TWE2012). Wolf Blass
the man not only introduced new wine making approaches to Australia, but is also credited with linking wines to aggressive marketing and promotional campaigns which included associating wines and wine drinking with a range of different
cultural events and recreational activities (Dunphy and Lockshin1998; Smith and
Marsh2007).
The current Wolf Blass brand was launched in 2004 (Marton 2004) and
combines these important features:
• The consistent use of an Australia wedge-tailed eagle on brand labels, in print media campaigns and in television advertisements;
• The consistent use of different coloured labels to denote wine quality and the varietal type of wine;
• The brand slogan “Australian wine at its peak” and various plays on this idea in event and wine specific campaigns such “where eagles dare” and “enjoy the
view” (Wolf Blass2012);
• Two linked series of television advertisements – one which features the eagle flying across various Australian landscapes to land and merge into the label on
the Wolf Blass wine bottle (Wolf Blass2008) and a series called “Silk Gloves”
(Wolf Blass2007) which combines a series of images of a young woman, model
Cynthia Kerchner, in expensive clothing at a cocktail party, filmed at Point Cook Homestead in Victoria, and in different outdoor locations ending with the eagle landing on her outstretched arm; and
• A piece of iconic music written specifically for these television advertisements. The brand’s current advertising agency argues that “the eagle represents the
aspirations of the Wolf Blass consumer as well as the brand itself (. . .) personifying
strength, power and elegance” (Campaign Brief2011). Wolf Blass wants to be seen
as a maker of premium quality, full-bodied, strong wines and the brand personality to be associated with strength and elegance. Drinking Wolf Blass wine is meant to signify the attainment of higher social and cultural status.
Each of the elements in the advertising campaign contributes to this brand and links the wine to its heritage. The eagle is a symbol of strength, grace and the ability
to reach higher peaks of achievement (Brown2010) but also links the wine to Wolf
Blass’ original vineyard on Bilyara road in South Australia as Bilyara is a deriva-
tion from an Aboriginal word meaning eagle hawk (TWE2012). The use of the
embossed gold eagle and simple labels that rely heavily on colour to provide information have also been linked to perceptions of quality and wine connoisseur-
ship (Elliott2006,2007; Jarvis et al.2010). The advertisements focus on images
meant to convey power and elegance (Wolf Blass2012).
The music that accompanies the television advertisement was composed specifi- cally for the advertisement by Australian musician Jeremy Smith, a member of the
Australian band Hunters and Collectors. In more recent advertisements, notably the Silk Gloves campaign, it has been arranged by Cezary Skubiszewski, who has won several awards for Australian film sound tracks. The music, which is performed by members of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, is described as haunting and as
one of the best uses of music to support a brand in Australia (Cant2010).
The music supports the brand in several ways. The style and arrangement of the music is consistent with the other brand elements being described as powerful and
elegant and it works to fill in and support the perception of the wine (Dunn2012).
The dominant use of string instruments associates it with high culture but the modern, cinematic arrangement connects it to the aspirational aspects of the brand. The emotional aspect of the music is also important in supporting a strong personal connection between the brand and consumer. A longer version was written and produced and made available for download. The musical score is also available for use and the music is available as a mobile phone ringtone. The Wolf Blass music, as it has become known, is an example of using music to support and connect other core brand elements and demonstrates the power of music to build
an emotional connection between brands and consumers. Table 1 effectively
summarises these links and associations from comments made about the Wolf Blass music on various blogs and websites.
The music has been very well-received, “It leaves you wanting to hear more”, and has taken on a life of its own.
Table 1 Wolf Blass brand and music connections Role of the music (Keller2003)
Awareness (music assists in getting consumer attention and enhancing brand awareness)
“I love the Wolf Blass ads, whenever it comes on TV, I just stop and watch”
“Never get tired of hearing this ad on the telly” “As soon as it came on, I would sit there,
entranced!” Brand attributes/benefits (music support
brand elements)
“The music and the dark tone is really awesome” “I love this ad the music fits perfectly”
“This is beautiful – a work of art”
“Without the incredible music this ad wouldn’t be what it is – a stunning and captivating piece of work”
“Evocative(. . .)beautiful(. . .)all elements are beautifully harmonised”
Feelings (music creates positive emotional response)
“Love this song” “Great music” “Amazing song”
“I love this ad so much I don’t know why” Attitudes (music encourages positive attitudes
towards and consumption of the product)
“Fantastic ad, better than Yalumba” “Possibly one of my favourite ads, especially
because of the music, I went straight to Dan Murphys and got a bottle just because of it”