Wine or alcoholic beverages have unique state by state legal requirements. Many alcohol (Wine, Spirits, Beer) companies with national distribution will promote a partner brand for the main reason of offering a consumer promotion, usually in the form of a cents off coupon in states that prohibit promotional savings on their own (alcohol) brand.
Developing a Tie-In promotion that works to complement your brand is a great way to provide a triple win:
A win for consumers, they see savings.
A win for retailers, they see cross-category lifts.
A win for partners, they see cost efficiencies sharing program expenses, they see trade excitement with a new opportunity for incremental sales.
Are you thinking of developing a tie-in promotion on your product? If it is in the alcohol category, then keep this in mind:
Certain states will not allow any promotional savings on alcohol products.
Some states require that you may not offer savings on partner brands that can be misconstrued as being "Free". In this case, Free might be a savings offer that matches the retail price of the product on promotion.
Naturally, you should verify everything with your legal counsel to make sure you are in compliance with both Federal and State laws.
Do you have enough time to effectively plan out your promotion? Several years ago our agency promoted 4 tiers (wine segments) for one of our clients. There were a total of 17 necker versions. This takes time to develop the program correctly. Mistakes can happen with greater frequency when your agency rushes their materials out-the-door. Not only is it a good idea to have your partners signed and sealed with plenty of time but once you engage in the creative development it will take some time depending on the number of versions and making sure that both partners and their legal departments have had plenty of time to confirm and approve all layouts.
