Total Wine

Total Wine & More | Localizing a National Consumer Retail Brand

Consumer & Retail, Marketing & Creative, Public Relations
Objectives

Total Wine & More, one of the largest family-owned alcohol retailers in the U.S., engaged Pierpont to drive community awareness, foot traffic and product sales to support the retailer’s rapidly growing Texas footprint. To efficiently scale its grand openings and ribbon cuttings, Total Wine & More selected Pierpont as a partner due to our statewide presence and unmatched insights into local markets.

Solution

Over 12 months, Pierpont developed an in-depth, market-by-market strategy for 10+ store grand opening events throughout the state that included influencer engagement, media relations and event coordination. For each event, Pierpont curated event elements that spoke to the unique culture of each local market – such as cheese carvings of well-known attractions and local bands – while also educating attendees on Total Wine’s broad selection of local craft beers, wines & spirits. Pierpont also helped coordinate introductions for Total Wine and local Chambers of Commerce and potential nonprofit partners to further drive community engagement in each market. 

Pierpont worked in tandem with Total Wine & More’s national marketing and communications team to provide market insights that helped ensure event details were authentic to the community and “localized” the brand to drive customer preference in a very competitive retail market. Pierpont also proactively engaged local media outlets, including the Houston Chronicle, CultureMap Dallas, Houston Business Journal, Community Impact Newspapers and more. Not only was the goal to build awareness and drive foot traffic to new store locations, but Pierpont also helped develop key messages to communicate Total Wine & More’s key market position: the customer will win when there’s more competition.

Results

Each of the grand opening events proved to be a major success, with at least 200 local influencers, business leaders and residents in attendance. The events significantly boosted store traffic and grand opening weekend sales compared to previous store openings in Texas. These efforts were scaled across Pierpont’s teams to conduct successful market entries and expansions across Texas’ major markets, and Total Wine & More has since incorporated elements to its other store openings nationwide.

Local influencers 200+