- Australia’s and UK’s No.1 wine company by volume
- 3 + 2 year agreement to protect Accolade’s brands and engage consumers
- Initial trial on Grant Burge wines
We’re delighted to announce that YPB Group Ltd has signed a three year plus two year option Master Supply Agreement to provide Accolade Wines with YPB’s integrated brand protection and customer engagement technology suite.
Headquartered in Australia, Accolade Wines is Australia’s and the UK’s largest wine company by volume and delivers approximately 38 million cases to over 140 countries annually. Accolade is a world-leading provider of premium, mainstream and value wines and was the first wine company to have a footprint in all major New World wine regions.
The company draws on a proud heritage, with its first vintage at the Hardys winery (McLaren Vale) in 1853. With three of the top 10 wine brands in the UK, and two of the top ten in Australia, Accolade’s portfolio is led by Hardys and includes St Hallett, Petaluma, House of Arras, Houghton, Grant Burge Wines and Banrock Station (Australia), Waipara Hills and Mud House (New Zealand), Geyser Peak and Echo Falls (United States), Kumala & Flagstone (South Africa), and Viña Anakena (Chile).
Accolade will initially introduce YPB’s solutions in the Grant Burge range of wines. Upon successful implementation and in-field performance, Accolade may extend YPB’s solutions to other premium brands in its portfolio. YPB’s ProtectCode QR Technology and YPB Connect will provide Accolade with powerful anti–counterfeit and direct consumer engagement capabilities at low cost per unit.
In April 2018, Accolade Wines was acquired by Carlyle Group with a clear strategy of developing Accolade’s brands in Asia and China in particular. Also in April of 2018, Wine Australia reported exports of Australian wine to China grew by 51% for the year to March 2018 to reach $1.04 billion – a first for exports to a single country. China’s increased demand for imported wines is driving greater demand from consumers for confirmation of authenticity and provenance and greater depth of information as to quality and history. Wine companies acquiring consumers in China and elsewhere in Asia need to understand and develop relationships directly with those customers.
The wine culture in Asia is maturing and YPB’s solution for Accolade enables consumers to understand and pair wines and dishes or cuisines, as well as providing tasting notes or information about the wine’s development and creation. In that process, the consumer’s smartphone engagement with the wine will allow Accolade to know and engage in direct digital dialogue with the final consumer of its product – a valuable tool for direct engagement with its consumers around the globe but particularly in new markets.
YPB Executive Chairman John Houston said: “We are excited that our first wine industry client is a global leader of Accolade’s stature. We will be focussed on delivering significant value to Accolade in this initial trial via the low cost, effectiveness and simplicity of our solutions. Our mission is to make the benefits of our offer so obvious that Accolade will feel virtually compelled to extend YPB’s solutions across its premium portfolio. The Pan-Asian consumer markets are an enormous prize for consumer goods companies but they demand major investment into high risk geographies and Western brands increasingly realize that they must both protect their investment and ensure product authenticity to their consumers. Just as importantly, brands need to know their consumers wherever they may be and the trigger of confirming authenticity is the ideal means to open a direct communication channel with the consumer. We look forward to working with Accolade to maximise the value of as many of its brands and consumers as possible.”
