The Portuguese Government is financing a pounds 70,000 pre-Christmas PR
and advertising push designed to raise the profile of the country’s
table wines in the UK.
The marketing drive kicks off a three-year strategy approved by the
Portuguese Trade and Tourism Office earlier this year, which aims to
achieve national editorial coverage for Portuguese wines, backed up by
strategic local advertising in the South East.
Charles Saunders Public Relations has been hired to provide PR support
for the campaign, and has begun organising a round of press trips and
wine tastings to secure improved press coverage.
Jose Laranjo, consultant at through-the-line agency Grandill Europe
which is co-ordinating the campaign, said increased competition from New
World wines and other non-EC wines demanded more aggressive PR to ensure
Portuguese wine sales in Britain continued to grow.
‘In the past, with more limited budgets, there has been too much
concentration on just getting coverage in the trade and specialist
press,’ said Laranjo. ‘The relatively limited budget still means that
advertising has to be concentrated in London and the south east, which
has the highest wine consumption. But we have a PR budget capable of
achieving national coverage.’
According to Laranjo, the pre-Christmas push will be followed up by
year-round PR activity supplemented by twice-yearly tactical advertising
drives.
