Millennial, & B2B Opps: Vintage Wine Estates taps former PepsiCo CMO as CEO (Score 82)

Sales Lead: Seth Kaufman will step into the role of Vintage Wine Estates (VWE)'s president and CEO no later than October 30, 2023.

• Kaufman succeeds incumbent president Terry Wheatley and interim CEO Jon Moramarco.
  • Wheatley resigned, and Moramarco will continue in his position as director.
• Kaufman joined from LVMH, where was Moet Hennessy's NA president and CEO.
  • He also brings marketing expertise from various roles such as that of PepsiCo's CMO (2015-2017).
  • **Note: We won't be able to verify an email address for Kaufman until he starts at the end of October, so reach out to other DMs in the meantime.**
• Right now, VWE is focused on a transitional 2024 to set the company up for continued success.
  • The company is also relying on acquisitions for growth.
  • Between October 2021-January 2022, the company acquired the Vinesse winery, ACE Cider, and Meier's Wine Cellars Inc.
• The company will likely:
  • Implement advertising strategy shifts
  • Return to higher spend
  • Conduct agency reviews
• Target demographic: 
  • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Consumer: Millennials
    • As you can tell by the video above, VWE values sustainability, which will appeal to this audience.
    • This messaging will likely impact cause marketing initiatives.
  • B2B: Distributors and select retailers

Additional recent leadership shifts:

• This shift comes not long after VWE parted ways with its top marketer in July 2023.
  • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Duran joined the company in December 2017 and was most recently its marketing VP.

Additional spending insights:

• Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: So far this year, VWE has spent approximately $800 on digital ads, down exponentially from the approximately $8.4k spent within the same 2022 timeframe.
  • YTD data: The company has earned ~110.9k digital impressions via Facebook ads.
  • Last year: VWE spent roughly $10.4k on this channel last year, almost triple the roughly $3.5k spent in 2021.

Additional agency insights:

• Opportunity: CEO appointments don't always lead to agency reviews, but since Kaufman brings marketing expertise, I suggest getting in touch in case his is an exception.
• Current agency roster:
  • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​No current agency relationships yet confirmed

Insight Sources: Digital spend insights estimated by Pathmatics.​​​​​​​