Chilean producer Viña San Pedro is bidding to raise the profile of its leading brand 35 South with its first consumer advertising campaign in May. The company built its UK business through the development of own label wines for the major multiples but its change in emphasis has been fuelled by rapid sales growth. Viña San Pedro, through UK agent Buckingham Vintners, has been developing 35 South over the past five years by building distribution and ACNielsen reports the brand's volumes grew by 81% last year. Buckingham Vintners' spokesman Andrew Montague said: "Chilean wine sales were the domain of own label, but over the last 12 months retailers have shown a lot of confidence in 35 South and have given it great support. "We have got to the point where we believe the market is ready for Chilean brands to make the next leap forward. We are still outside the pack of main wine brands but we want this to change." Viña San Pedro is putting £2.8m behind the brand in 2002, much of which will go on a consumer advertising campaign in May and June and again in the autumn. It will take the form of posters and cross-track ads in the London Underground. Montague said: "We will see how this affects the brand and hope to increase the budget for next year." He also hopes to increase its profile on shelf by adding new styles. The Chilean company is developing a collection of dual varietals (rsp: £4.49) which will join the existing single varietals in the early summer. In addition, it will encourage consumers to trade up with the launch of a Reserva range (rsp: £5.99). {{DRINKS }}

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