How to achieve successful rebranding against all odds: a case history

Tavernello: an awkward positioning

No self-respecting Italian would choose to bring a bottle of Tavernello a gift for a dinner invitation to a friend’s house? Tavernello is a very cheap wine and, as a result, it is perceived as low in quality. The brand’s original USP can be said to have been its doom too. In fact, the carton packaging, which allows the final product to be cheaper and which was the brand’s most innovative trait at the beginning, has turned out to be a double-edged sword. After years of dramatically low positioning, along came the campaign that could change things.

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A self-deprecating video that went viral

For the revamp, Tavernello has chosen one of the most popular Italian comedians of the moment: Maccio Capatonda. The choice of the testimonial already reveals a precise project: to welcome criticism with self-irony and not to consider anything as taboo. Rather, to prepare to embrace Capatonda’s nonsensical, edgy and often cringe-making brand of comedy in order to launch a cheeky message. “Don’t knock it til you try it”. In the video, Capatonda is approached to become a testimonial for Tavernello, but upon discovering that the wine is considered to be cheap and bad, he thinks this means that he too is a shoddy comedian. “What, you’re promoting hobo wine?” comment the people he talks to, reiterating one of the most well-known and embarrassing stereotypes the brand is associated with. In his journey to discover the product and fight prejudice, Maccio does one simple thing: he tries the wine for the first time and discovers it tastes ok (literally “not bad”). The payoff – which is not a payoff – is a masterpiece of Italian comedy in perfect Capatonda style, in which the comedian rambles about how hurtful it is when people spew judgment without knowledge.

Honesty pays

Will Maccio’s warm invitation convince more people to drink Tavernello? It’s too early to say, but it’s reasonable to think that brand awareness and positioning will be boosted by this viral video. When a negative prejudice about a brand is known to all, a campaign that ignores it completely will be perceived as dishonest. Most of the previous adverts, with families drinking Tavernello at the dinner table, were viewed with scepticism by consumers, who probably wouldn’t dream of serving their loved ones ‘hobo wine’ (which implies a whole range of other prejudices that we won’t be exploring today). Admitting frankly to the fact that the brand carries this reputation creates an important premise for the consumer: the message they are receiving is authentic, it is sincere and the brand is not trying to take itself too seriously.

Conclusions

Sincere communication is the starting point for re-establishing a connection with the audience. After that, it will be up to the company, in its production and communication choices, to know how to make the best use of the attention that the viewer has chosen to grant.

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