Jeremy Benson is the president of Benson Marketing Group which is the leading wine and spirits marketing agency in the United States. He has worked with one of the best brands in leading their marketing strategies. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and seminars such as UC Davis Wine Executive Program as a guest lecturer and Direct-to-Consumer Wine Symposium as a Committee Member, just to name a few. Having worked with iconic brands, Benson Marketing Group specializes in Brand Positioning, Public Relations, Digital Marketing, and Advocacy Marketing. It has been on our list of Top PR Agencies and also named on the top 10 "Power List" of wine and spirits marketing agencies in the U.S. by Meininger's Wine Business International.

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Tell us a little about yourself? What inspired you to establish a beverage marketing agency?

Back in 2000, when I started the agency, it was clear to me that integrating marketing functions, such as PR, sales promotions, and especially digital marketing, was next. It was going to provide brands with new tools to help consumers, in an increasingly competitive market.

But by that time I already had more than a decade working for large and small marketing agencies, associations, working on LVMH Moet Hennessy brands, among others. I then took a pause, got an MBA, and transitioned into roles in brand management, marketing, and export sales.

Could you give us a brief description of Benson Marketing Group and what are some of your tasks involved? 

We’re an integrated marketing agency focusing exclusively on wine and spirits brands. Our core service areas are brand strategy, digital marketing, PR, and trade promotions. Companies come to us to raise their awareness and reputation in the market, to provide support for their sales teams, and breakthrough all the noise.

How do you increase your client's visibility and promote brand awareness around consumers and trade?

First, we tend to invest a lot of energy into sharpening and documenting competitive differences, to find “the edge” of a brand’s story. These often buck conventional wisdom in a way that strengthens a brand’s unique position. We also really dig into the “purpose” behind a brand; its values, the non-financial motivations of owners, and the like. These are sources of differentiation in a crowded market. Second, we bring to bear our network and our own media channels to educate trade and consumer audiences. Finally, we hustle. If you have a great story, the team, and the tools to convey what is compelling about a brand, then we’ve provided sales teams with the support they need to build distribution and demand pull.

Behind the scenes of a press webinar for Redwood Empire Whiskey organized by Benson Marketing Group

What strategies do you use to gain distribution, increase volume sales and gain brand positioning? Could you give me an example of an account you recently worked with?

It seems so obvious, but geo-targeted digital advertising is really working well for our clients. One campaign led a small regional chain from featuring our client in two stores to five stores, and then they added another SKU. It works because we can cost-effectively increase local brand awareness, and store traffic, legally.

Another example is press webinars. We created a YouTube series called BensonLive Presents that features winemakers from around the globe discussing relevant topics like Chardonnay styles. If we do our homework, we can provide spokespeople with a distinct POV that generates useful content for lifestyle and trade writers.  

What is advocacy marketing? How do you use it in your agency?

We like to be in the background, to put our clients front and center. We create virtual and in-person events designed to create advocates for our clients.. for example, we conducted a lot of press webinars in the last two years, and prior to COVID, a lot of press trips, one-on-one tastings, and private events for sommeliers. We hope to return to those formats, of course.

What changes have taken place in your company post-COVID? How do you differentiate yourself from other marketing agencies?

We continue to be very flexible and empathetic with our team, who are facing many challenges -- child care, parental care, Zoom, and WFH burnout.  We’ve always had the tools that enable mobile work. But COVID has reemphasized the need for compassion and adaptability.    

What kind of marketing collaborations do you do with Hotels and Restaurants? Could you give examples?

We’ve just scratched the surface. I think there are huge opportunities for partnerships. Pre-COVID, we conducted quite a few private sommelier events hosted by a local somm, with a client sponsor, and an emphasis on education rather than promotion. Those programs were a big success; our clients understood that if we dialed back the commercial components, and helped educate the trade on regions and varietals, then we could succeed in creating long-term advocates and goodwill.

Jeremy Benson at Direct-to-Consumer Wine Symposium

Public Relations is a big part of your services, what are a few simple yet effective ways to keep that going?

PR can seem amorphous to clients. But we like to boil it down to two things: creative and execution. Are tailored story angles compelling and interesting to their targets in lifestyle, business, men/women, epicurean, and other media categories?  Are we putting the necessary time into pitching? You’ve got to have both – great ideas and hustle. If you do both, your press network expands and strengthens. It’s not the other way around – we have to be credible and efficient partners with the press.

What factors do you take into consideration when planning a digital strategy? Give us an example.

It all starts with sales’ goals: what they want to sell and where and how. Our digital services focus on driving three-tier, not DTC, sales. As previously mentioned, even medium-sized companies can cost-effectively create media plans that support the retailers supporting them. For a new client, we’re creating a campaign template we can turn on and off quickly, in very specific markets, to support independent and chain sales. Of course, the other element is whether we understand current and future consumers.

National TV placement for Smith & Hook wine generated by Benson Marketing Group

What are some of the biggest challenges in wine & spirits marketing?

Competition. Distribution. Inertia. Competition for share of attention, and from other categories (e.g., seltzers, beer, etc.). Distribution tiers in the U.S. present communication challenges, of course, which is why working directly with accounts, and highly targeted marketing is ever more important to supporting wholesale partners. Inertia – doing things the way they’ve been done before – is a bias we constantly work to break down. 

What are some of the futuristic/modern marketing practices you have adopted or have in store for Benson Marketing Group?

People: It all comes down to a great team. If you’re looking to hire an agency, talk to the people who will be on your account. Are they curious? Learning on the job? Engaged?  Add to that, agility. The tools and data that allow us to execute very highly targeted campaigns, and then scale up or down, are key to the future for agencies like ours.

Interviewed By Prithvi Nagpal, Editor & Sommelier, Beverage Trade Network