Seven Apart has quickly become one of the hottest new brands in Napa Valley. We’ve been fortunate to be the agency of record since day one back in 2018.
The goal is to create the next generation of cult Napa Valley wine brands. Together with ownership and their management team, we reimagined the luxury wine experience. We are proud of our work together. Within a few short years, Seven Apart has cultivated a large and devoted allocation list following and consistently sells out of each release.
“Working with the team at Highway 29 Creative has been an absolute pleasure. They have been instrumental in launching our brand and have provided a creative and thoughtful approach throughout the process.
We look forward to continuing our work with them and utilizing their wealth of expertise in this industry. We highly recommend their services.”
Allocation Strategy
The old school way to run a luxury wine allocation is to have a registration form on the website and then follow up with the potential customer months later with the next release. The problem is, the customer has long forgotten about your brand and their enthusiasm has dampened. The brand spends valuable time and money acquiring the sign up and then loses them due to a lack of engagement.
With Seven Apart, we flipped the business model on its head. Customers are required to place an order to be added to the allocation list. This helps to qualify the customer and capture their excitement right away.
Between releases, we write and email journal entries for their blog to share stories from the vineyard and reinforce the brand’s philosophy.
Digital Advertising
When Seven Apart launched in 2018, they did not have a tasting room to host customers. We had to build the customer base digitally. The brand invested heavily in digital marketing and tasked our team with creating brand awareness and growing the allocation list.
Through rigorous testing, we determined the messaging and assets that best converted customers. We continue to optimize the ads, refreshing them often to find new customers and convert them to acquire the 3 bottle set of Expedition. The marketing has been very effective, consistently delivering a positive ROI and growing the customer base.
Website
Seven Apart has such a unique story to tell and we did not want their website to look like a “typical winery website.” We personified their high-altitude mountain vineyard and made it a character in the story. Mountain and climbing motifs offer subtle visual cues and a sense of excitement for the brand.
The goal of the website was to balance keeping the brand mysterious, but offering enough information to convert new customers. We structured the homepage as the chief landing page for the brand, following e-commerce best practices, and offering multiple calls to action. We use social proof from critics to instill confidence in the brand. Above all else, the site is “cool” and attracts the right customer to the brand.
Releases
The brand only produces four wines and each is released separately throughout the year. We want each wine to shine and allow us to space out customer engagement and purchases. Prior to each release, we send an email tease to alert customers to the day and time of the release and the option to download a calendar reminder.
On release day, active members are emailed and texted an exclusive link to a hidden page on the website to purchase the release. We opted not to use the standard WineDirect allocation functionality and page as it offers limited options to market the wine and tell its story. Instead we designed an e-commerce focused product detail page full of rich imagery, video, FAQs, and calls to action. The results speak for themselves as many releases sell out within hours (and without customers ever sampling the wines).
Unique Moments
Consistency is the most important part of marketing. We worked with the Seven Apart team to develop a strong brand story focused on their extreme mountain vineyard. We relentlessly tell this story and never waiver in any communications of the brand's goals. The mountain theme has allowed us to create unique marketing moments:
‘Napa At Its Peak’
We developed the tagline “Napa At Its Peak” for the brand and used it as the footer on the website, in emails, and embossed in gold on the packaging. It perfectly encapsulated the brand.
SUMMIT AT Mt. EveresT SUMMIT
Seven Apart partnered with extreme mountain climber Meghan Buchanan to sponsor her climb to the summit of Mt. Everest. She carried a bottle of Seven Apart’s top wine named Summit and documented the entire experience for our followers on social media. It’s only fitting the Summit was taken to the highest summit in the world!
limited-edition decanter
We commission glass artist Dante Germain to design and produce a custom limited-edition decanter for Seven Apart. Inspired by their mountain vineyard, he imprinted a 3D mountain inside the base of the decanter. We designed a special collector’s box for the decanter and will be offering them for sale to Seven Apart’s members in 2023.
“THE DAWN OF SEVEN APART”
We scripted, shot, and produced a video titled “The Dawn Of Seven Apart” to show the journey winemaker Andy Erickson embarks on to produce world-class wine. It follows him up the mountain during harvest to truly show “Napa At Its Peak.”
We are grateful to work with the entire team at Seven Apart and be trusted to bring their brand vision to life. They provided our team ample room to be creative, push the boundaries, and try new ideas without fear. This marketing collaboration has been a true partnership.
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