Lindeman's splashes out on sunshine campaign

While most Australian winemakers flee in horror from the old style of Aussie wine, both neatly and disparagingly dubbed as "sunshine in a bottle", leading wine brand Lindeman's has embraced the concept launching a fresh million-dollar global campaign around the phrase "It's the sunshine that makes it".

Owned by Treasury Wine Estates, the world's biggest pure wine company that also houses brands such as Penfolds, Wolf Blass and Beringer, the 170-year-old Lindeman's will spend more than $1.6 million in Britain alone to remind drinkers its wines are the match for great moments with friends and family in the sun.

The 17-week campaign for the British market will run in two phases, from now to the end of October and a second run into the northern hemisphere spring.

It will include a piece of film that can be seen on key digital platforms - including YouTube, BBC iPlayer, ITV.com as well as targeted banner advertising on key sites.

With its advertising, online presence and marketing splattered with images of the sun, sunny days in the outdoors and people enjoying the balmy weather, Lindeman's has attempted to transform the classic put-down of Australian wine, especially chardonnay, as simply being cheap and cheerful into a positive.

"I think the sunshine represents what we stand for at Lindeman's, which is living positively and embracing a life balance, so as a brand team we thought sunshine was a good metaphor for that," Lindeman's managing director Michelle Terry said.

Lindeman's new marketing attempts to link sunshine in each bottle, with the sunshine per drop.

"Our idea is that sunshine transforms the way people feel and we certainly think that ... when people reach for a glass of Lindeman's then hopefully the idea that Lindeman's contains at least 1000 hours of sunshine in every drop does translate."

Ms Terry - under an organisational structure implemented by recently dumped Treasury Wine Estates CEO David Dearie - is also responsible for several niche wine labels such as Great Western, Devil's Lair, Fifth Leg as well as sparkling powerhouse Yellowglen.

She said her team didn't fear Lindeman's "sunshine in a bottle" tag backfiring with local drinkers.

"It's something that is well received by consumers out there in the world, which we can see by the enduring popularity of Lindeman's.

"We are the No.1 Australian wine brand in Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and now Canada, so I'm not concerned at all and I think Lindeman's is well renowned for its great taste and flavour."

In its full-year result released last month, Lindeman's posted a 1.5 per cent increase in volume in the Americas market for fiscal 2013, outperforming the Australian wine category.

Turning to other parts of the portfolio, Ms Terry said the Early Harvest range, a relatively new variety that is a hit with people who like to watch their weight, was growing strongly.

Early Harvest uses ripe grapes harvested from early ripening regions in south-eastern Australia to produce a wine that is 25 per cent lighter in alcohol and calories.