DBR Reflections

Our class discussion last week on the DBR case left me thinking about how unlike other industries that have very well know luxury brands (cars, fashion, etc.), the wine industry is unique because the products and signals of status/wealth are not as visible. For obvious reasons, people can signal something about themselves to others more easily/more frequently through the clothes and jewelry they wear or the car(s) they drive than they can about the wine they drink. This difference could have a huge impact on consumer behavior and incentives. Even though we likened the DBR brand to those of high fashion and luxury cars, I am starting to wonder if there is indeed a notable difference that pushes DBR and other fine wines into a different group of goods. The reason I pose this question is because many people are willing to buy luxury cars and fashion so that these brands add (or define) to their identities and send messages to those around them about who they are/the wealth/status they have. This desire acts as an incentive for those people to continue to buy and pay a high price for those items. However, there may be a difference in what incentivizes people to buy really nice, expensive wine. Clearly, people are not carrying around fancy bottles of wine in their daily lives, so this product does not fall into the high fashion / luxury car category as neatly. Fine wine is unlike fine art in that these fine wines can be purchased as long as the product is available, year after year and the wine is (hopefully) consumed at some point to where there is only the empty bottle as a souvenir. One could argue that fine wine is similar to fine art in that it is usually something that ends up being in one’s home and is shared in more intimate settings (dinner parties, gatherings, etc.) than are high fashion clothes that an individual might wear. The nuances among fine wine, fine art, high fashion, and other luxury goods may cause the answer to how do you build a brand in fine wine that is sustainable / extremely profitable / recognizable to be a very difficult one to answer.