Pecan Creek Winery
New Label Designs Set to Sell More Oklahoma Wines
Sandra Yerges
Although his list of life experiences may outweigh the number of years he has spent in the viticulture industry, Bob Wickizer has an unmatched background in a variety of fields. Before planting his 8-acre vineyard and crafting award-winning Oklahoma wines at Pecan Creek Winery, he spent many years working in scientific and religious roles. Throughout that time, he often gravitated toward the idea of beginning his own business. However, this newest winery venture was the first to withstand all of the promotional learning curves Bob faced.
“I tend to make the same kind of blunder with having a great product and then really not understanding how to market it,” he acknowledged.
Being a small, rural business run by approximately ten part-time employees makes marketing a top-of-mind concern for Pecan Creek Winery. Especially with its target market extending beyond Oklahoma through national shipping options, making a name for the business is crucial to make the offerings feel close to home, even from miles away.
To begin his journey toward marketing success, Bob’s first step was to find a way to fund his outreach to those with marketing expertise. He was grateful to be acquainted with the Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG) and have application writing assistance through the Nonprofit Resource Center, which made it possible to be awarded the grant in 2021. Because of this help, he found an organization that could take on his looming brand-building project.
In Bob’s eyes, this VAPG-funded undertaking was initially bound to be large. He knew his existing wine labels, although individually fitting for each wine, were not providing customers with the most positive experience. He wanted to give that recognizable brand feeling to those buying his wines, so he assumed it required a thorough redesign of his 19 wine bottle labels.
Much to his surprise, however, the marketing company he hired proved a radical change like this was not necessary at all. It began with a thought-provoking conversation with the professionals about Pecan Creek Winery’s special qualities. These aspects were always there, but having an outside perspective pinpoint what was unique about the business made a large difference in how to approach the label updates.
From there, the professionals wanted to understand why consumers desired more from the wines’ existing branding. By going straight to the source through customer-centered marketing research, they uncovered that the true issue originated in confusion about which wines were produced by Pecan Creek Winery. Because of this finding, Bob mentioned that “modest tweaks” were then made to make his offerings more of a collection.
These small adjustments as well as a logo update made a huge impact on the look of the bottles moving forward. Each label showcases a rich color pallet with a sophisticated font, matching the elevated nature of the wines themselves. There are also photos that accompany each wine, such as wild animals and outdoor scenes, which provide a natural feeling to the product.
“I can tell you that every person in sales in the company and behind the counter is able to articulate our brand and our strategy much more clearly than we could have three years ago,” Bob expressed. “That, I have the USDA to thank.”
On top of better brand understanding, the label updates also offered another opportunity to bring Pecan Creek wine sales to new heights. Before the VAPG, the winery could not easily enter the worldwide retail market as their existing Universal Product Code (UPC) did not fit the established model. This barrier was finally eliminated by adding the standard version to the labels that fit well with the other aesthetic changes.
“That’s now paving the way for sales to much bigger volume customers, so that will have an impact,” shared Bob.
This time of growth provides Bob with the chance to explore fresh concepts for his decade-old business. Over the years, he has made a large impression on the wine industry, such as being awarded second place at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. Although he has found much success with his bottled wines, there are additional developmental plans in the works to appeal to the tastes of younger customers.
Based on Bob’s findings, hard seltzer drinks are steadily growing in popularity among Millennial consumers. With this trend in mind, he decided to investigate how feasible it would be to create his own version of seltzers. After realizing the simplicity of the process, it became clear to him that developing hard seltzers was the next big step for his business.
There is a stark difference between Bob’s pre-VAPG mindset to today’s business outlook, especially with the connections his products have with one another. Now that he can have confidence in his brand recall because of the grant, he can approach new projects like his seltzers without hesitation.
“Getting federal funds to rural businesses to make them more competitive and to help them modernize and update their selling and marketing approach, that’s a great thing,” Bob expressed. “I’m really proud of our country for doing that.”
