Van Zellers & Co Vintage Port 2020 Ocean Aged is the first Vintage Port in history to be aged underwater. It spent more than a year in the depths of the Port of Sines in a successful collaboration with the company Ecoalga – Adega do Mar, which specializes in underwater storage.
The official launch of the wine and the emersion of the bottles – which took place months later – strategically coincided with important events associated with the preservation of the seas and oceans – respectively, International Ocean Day (celebrated on June 8) and National Sea Day (marked on November 16).
Adapting communication to the events required Global. to create two distinct moments of media impact. As a result, two press releases were developed to mark the launch and, subsequently, the rescue of around 100 bottles from the seabed in November. In addition to the press releases, the media to be targeted at both moments were defined, mainly with a focus on interview proposals.
Francisca Van Zeller, Marketing and Communications Manager at Van Zellers & Co, was chosen as the spokesperson for the brand and this specific project. Initially, she gave interviews to the following media: Weekend/Jornal de Negócios, Sábado and TSF. Diário de Notícias, both in print and online, also took an in-depth look at the subject. Dinheiro Vivo, Versa and NiT are also examples of media impacted.
About five months later, the wine was once again communicated when the bottles were removed from the bottom of the Port of Sines. NiT Porto, Must/Jornal de Negócios, Forbes Portugal and Marketeer were the media that interviewed Francisca van Zeller in this second wave of communication.
Priced at 1,000 euros per unit, the wine was a sales success and sold out, with Van Zellers & Co selling it in its entirety to its partners and distributors – the reference hit the market, i.e. the end consumer, at the beginning of December.
The Vintage in question, the first in the history of Port to be aged underwater, took a deep dive in order to rise to the surface and be an example of media impact, with more than 30 results from a one-off action distributed on two occasions.