Only a few years ago, if you wanted wine on-the-go your options were limited to the semi-palatable 187ml PET plastic bottle or its unhelpful sibling, the pseudo-wine glass with a foil lid. Neither had a great OTG consumption experience and where other categories brimmed with innovation - wine was far behind.
Cue NICE, who launched in 2019 on a mission to solve the ‘OTG wine headache’ with wine in a can. Wrapped in a bright, crowd-pleasing brand and aimed at democratising wine without compromising on its quality, NICE are a brilliant case study in how to break old category codes, while honouring the right traditions.
Fast forward to today, the category has evolved and so has NICE. Hot off an elevated rebrand designed to propel the business far beyond its can-only origins, the future of wine is looking NICE!
We caught up with co-founder Lucy Busk in the You, Me & CPG Studio to talk rebrand, cultural relevance and how to crush old codes for growth.
Here’s a snapshot of what we discussed:
1. How To Decide Which Category Traditions Break (And Which To Keep)
2. Why Wine Should Behave More Like A Beer In The On-Trade
3. How To Crack Cultural Relevance And Real Life Brand Building
4. Why Agency Relationships Are Critical to Creative Success
5. Why Low ABV is Part of Wines Future
Links & references
Jamie Holtum
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-holtum-85b79634/
Haines
https://www.linkedin.com/company/hainespartners/
https://www.instagram.com/youmeandcpg/
Lucy Busk
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-busk-52966086/
Nice
https://www.linkedin.com/company/nice-drinks/
https://www.instagram.com/drinknice/
Episode highlights
“What drove me to launch the business was to launch a wine brand that spoke to someone like me… I wanted to launch a brand that felt far more fun and inclusive and functional, and I guess in doing that, we did carve out our own part of the category.” - 1:30 - Lucy Busk
“Graza has come in and done a beautiful job at deciding which sort of category traditions to honour, and then also deciding which category traditions to break… that's what you have to nail when you are a challenger brand. I look at brands like that for inspiration.” - 2:55 - Lucy Busk
“We want to honour how wine is made… But then the rules that we decide to break are the rules that we don't think serve the consumer.” - 4:15 - Lucy Busk
“The first headache that we wanted to solve was that on‑the‑go wine moment with an option that was actually so functional, so easy, and you were also proud - not embarrassed - to be seen with, which is the can.” - 9:50 - Lucy Busk
“The biggest problem that we had with our brand was that it felt quite young and it didn't feel like it was doing the quality of the wine a good enough service… The truth is, our brand, it wasn't good enough. It was great in the moment for the first few years, but it's not good enough for how the category’s evolved today and for the ambitions we have for the business today.” - 20:00 - Lucy Busk
“Wine at 13% is really strong. If I could have a 5% wine that really does taste as good as the full‑fat wine, I think that space would be really interesting… If you can solve that headache, that's a big unlock.” - 35:15 - Lucy Busk
