What is the surprising innovation in Charles Shaw wine?”
President Thomas Jefferson spent $175K in today’s dollars on wine during his two terms in office and said, “By making wine known to the public, I have rendered my country as great a service as if I had enabled it to pay back the national debt.” Presidents besides Thomas Jefferson have set trends while also giving us cause to drink! In the early 1960s, the Kennedys brought elegance to White House by serving French wines and food. They eclipsed America’s 50s Wonderbread and Jello-salad-mold image with Jackie’s French roots and style. Making Julia Child’s timely ‘French Chef Cookbook’ a hit that sparked the U.S. foodie culture. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson gave homegrown varietals a boost by vanquishing all but U.S. wines in the White House. Then in 1976, Napa’s breathtaking win over the presumed superior French at the Judgment of Paris was as if American wines had won the Tour de France. Zut alors! When California sent Presidents Reagan and Nixon to Washington, both only served Gold
Innovative marketing isn’t about creating ways to bring a horse to water, but finding ways to make the horse thirsty. Perhaps this was the thinking when Trader Joe’s began exclusive distribution of the Charles Shaw brand of wine at an unheard of price of $1.99. Brand building is vital for the success of any product, and in today’s increasingly cutthroat grocery business it can mean the difference between long-term growth and short-term failure. But building a brand need not be an expensive project, and even the most unsophisticated product can be successful in carving a niche for itself, particularly if it is given a helping hand by the retail trade, as the phenomenal success of the Californian wine brand Charles Shaw clearly shows. The wine, more commonly known as ‘Two-Buck Chuck’ because of its $1.99 price point, has sold more than 10 million cases over the last 18 months, despite being available in just 12 US states and sold through just one retail chain, Trader Joe’s. So how has it
