Greystone Wines:
Telling the story of New Zealand’s most progressive wine producer
Problem
Greystone had two problems. The first was practical: They sold through Shopify, with Australian sales on a second, separate Shopify store. They needed a better site quickly, with no budget for custom design.
The second problem ran deeper: Greystone was farming organically and regeneratively, and its winemaking was among the most progressive in New Zealand, but the brand told almost none of that story. Too few people outside the region knew the name, its sustainability work barely appeared in its marketing, and its sales leaned on hand-selling. The site and the wine club didn’t reflect the winery the team was actually running.
Background
We flew to Waipara for three days of workshops on site, with everyone at Greystone in the room: leadership, the cellar door, the vineyard team, down to the harvest interns. Each of them already knew what mattered to them. Our job was to bring it together.
From there we built messaging pillars, a brand voice, brand values, customer personas and a map of the customer journey, from first discovery through to advocacy. The team’s own ideas filled the last chapter, from yoga in the vines to horse-drawn vineyard tours.
Solution
We moved Greystone from Shopify to Commerce7 first, which got the winery selling on a better platform quickly and within its budget. After the strategy and messaging work, we designed and built a custom, modern Commerce7 site, and wrote its copy from the new brand pillars. We fully redesigned the wine club, from the names of its tiers to what each one offers, and we moved the Australian store from Shopify to Commerce7 as a second site.
Through email and growth-driven design, we laid the groundwork for Greystone’s own team to carry on confidently without us.
Each member of the Greystone team had a clear understanding of what mattered to them; our job was merely to bring that into a cohesive set of values.
Before and after
Project details
Client
Greystone Wines
Region
Services
Commerce7 websites, Strategy and communication workshops, Wine marketing strategy and growth, Email marketing for wineries, Growth-driven design
Website