Women account for almost 60 percent of US wine purchases, but they often encounter marketing strategies with a distinctly masculine flair.
Dark colors on wine labels. Masculine-themed artwork like pirates, wolves, or horses. Male winemakers’ names. It was enough to make researchers at Washington State University’s Carson College of Business scratch their heads—and start studying which marketing strategies appeal to women wine consumers.
Two years ago, Carson researchers found that women were more likely to buy wines when the labels’ artwork had feminine cues, such as flowers.
Messages like “proudly made by a woman winemaker” also increased women’s intentions of purchasing wines, and women were willing to pay about $3 more per bottle for those wines, the researchers recently found. The “woman winemaker” messaging was most effective when paired with feminine artwork on labels, but it also worked for brands with masculine-themed art.
Wine is a cultural product, where the winemaker’s identity plays a role in shaping the brand’s image, says Christina Chi, coauthor of the research published in International Journal of Hospitality Management and a Carson College professor of hospitality business management.
Christina Chi
Women winemakers, however, are less likely than their male counterparts to include their names on bottle labels or draw attention to their gender. Their reluctance may stem from concerns about prejudice toward their products in the male-dominated wine industry, Chi says.
“Our findings suggest that women winemakers and winery owners can benefit by being more visible,” she says. “The research shows that they can disclose their ownership with confidence and leverage it as a marketing strategy.”
Since the first study on wine labels was released, Chi and the other researchers have heard from women winemakers in the United States and other countries. They were excited about the research results and adopting the findings in their own marketing efforts.
Demi Deng (’23 PhD Busi.), an assistant professor at Auburn University, is the first author on the most recent research. Ruiying Cai (’18 PhD Busi.), an assistant professor of hospitality business management at WSU, also contributed to the research.
Ruiying Cui
Besides helping women winemakers market their products, Deng says she hopes the research will draw attention to women’s contributions to the industry.
Deng worked as a sommelier in New Zealand before she earned her doctorate. “I actually encountered a lot of women winemakers, but their names aren’t visible in the wine market,” she says.
Demi Deng
Chi has started pondering future research related to marketing and women consumers.
“I can see the potential for feminine messaging in packaging for organic foods and non-alcoholic or low-alcohol beverages,” she says. “That’s because women consumers are generally more health conscious and environmentally conscious than men.”