Andrea Cromaz, vice president of marketing at Riboli Family Wines, manages marketing for Stella Rosa, one of the few wine brands that’s already been cultivating its TikTok presence and is now ready to act.
When the platform opened up for wine ads, she said, “It was something that we were like, ‘Let's do this right now. We have to do it.’”.
The company is one of the 30 largest wineries in the U.S., making seven million cases annually in the $12+ price range. Moscato in various guises dominates. Stella Rosa has 40 different semi-sweet sparkling and semi-sparkling wines. In 2023, its Pineapple & Chili wine became the bestselling new wine in the U.S. in 2023. Other unique flavors include Rosa Watermelon, French Vanilla, Blackberry, Orange Fusion, and Ruby Rosé Grapefruit.
“Stella Rosa has always been so connected to pop culture,” said Cromaz. “The brand itself is the most engaged and most followed brand on social media outside of TikTok,” she said, quoting stats that the brand has 752,000 followers on Facebook and Instagram.
She has a staff of 30, most of whom are Gen Z-ers and young millenials, she said, who are constantly on the platform watching trends.
Even before TikTok opened up to adult beverage advertising, the brand was “heavily engaged in short form video content on Instagram and influencer content that has really been something that we've seen resonate with our consumers,” she said.
“So what we're doing is we're taking a lot of the tested and proven themes that have worked for us on Instagram, and we're bringing that into TikTok over the next couple of months, we're working with the TikTok platform to start launching ads,
“So what's interesting on TikTok is it’s not something where they really want you to partner with the larger, well known influencers. We're working more on nano influencers and micro, a little bit below that very prestigious level.”
That’s a change from the brand’s music based strategy on Instagram. “On Instagram, we work with different (music) artists, but you can't transfer that over TikTok right now. That's not something that they [TikTok] want adult beverage to do,” she said.
Recipe content: Food and wine
Said Cromaz, “For TikTok, what we're transferring over is more on the food and culinary scene. So, different people–like @The Moody Foody, who has 1.7 million followers. We've done a lot of content with her through social media channels, and we expect to continue our relationship. So we're really pushing this culinary side–how do you connect wine with food? And those are the type of influencers that we'll be working with that will generate content for us.”
Cromaz points to data that shows that TikTok users are shopping oriented–58 percent use the platform for shopping inspiration and 71 percent have made a purchase after seeing something in their feed. Forty five percent of users shop based on recommendations from paid influencers.
Though the brand’s overtly flavored wines are unique, compared to many wine brands, Stella’s focus on food and wine is a theme most wineries are intimately familiar with, often posting recipes in their marketing.
“With our new spicy (wine) series, we're saying, ‘Hey, this pairs perfectly with your taco night. You don't even need other margaritas. You can just have Stella Rosa Spicy. And here's a taco recipe,’” Cromaz said.
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