Influencer Marketing in the Wine & Spirits Industry: Everything You Need to Know

The alcohol beverage market is poised for growth: it is expected to increase by nearly 19 percent by the year 2024.

And savvy folks in the wines & spirits industry know the key to harnessing that growth is in reaching the right audiences.

To do that, influencer marketing is essential.

Why Influencer Marketing is so Important for Alcohol and Spirit Brands

The pandemic sparked a lot of growth in the pattern of consumption for alcoholic beverages. Canned cocktails have become popular among Gen Z consumers, and wine is seeing growth in new categories like vegan wines, biodynamic wines and organic wines. To help consumers differentiate, influencer marketing is essential.

What is “Influencer marketing”?

Influencer marketing involves leveraging well known social media personalities in the service of promoting a brand. At the high end of this industry, influencers like Kylie Jenner can command more than a million dollars per Instagram post. But there are many “influencers” to utilize at every price point imaginable. In order to run a successful influencer marketing campaign, wine & spirits companies may look for the skillset to be incorporated into one of the following positions:

Digital Account Manager
VP of Digital Marketing
E-commerce manager
Director of Digital Marketing

How Do Digital Influencers Work with Wine and Spirit brands?

Brands like Wölffer Estate Vineyard use events and outreach to educate consumers about their popular organic and sustainable wines.

Kombucha and hard seltzer maker Flying Embers has amassed a large following for their product among Gen Z consumers by using influencers.

Casamigos, which counts George Clooney as a founder, has successfully employed social media campaigns featuring prominent users to enhance their sales.

Ryan Reynolds became a part owner of Aviation Gin in 2018, and pitched in early on with influencer marketing acumen that sought to create funny viral moments that would be shared on social media. Behind Reynolds was a savvy marketing team with the flexibility to produce “of the moment” advertising such as the following, in which they enlisted the star of a viral Peloton ad to cheekily showcase the company’s flagship spirit.

Find the Right Digital Marketing Candidate to Oversee Your Influencer Marketing Campaigns

In the wine & spirits industry, marketing candidates are usually adept at wearing many hats and leveraging the touchpoints associated with alcohol brands whether digital, retail or events based. And these days, it has become even more critical for hires to know how to successfully integrate influencer marketing into their portfolio of efforts.

Strong digital hires with the ability to craft successful influencer marketing campaigns will have the following qualifications:

Ability to identify key influencers in respective consumer markets and rank their overall level of influence.
A sophisticated understand of where influencer marketing fits in with the customer journey (i.e. awareness, consideration, buying, etc).
Ability to quantify the value of an influencer in terms of KPIs.
Skill in drafting briefs and strategy that aligns marketing goals with influencer content and communications.
Network-specific knowledge to guide messaging for campaigns.