Branding and Marketing Communication in the Field of Wine: The Experiences of Spanish Denominations of Origin to Build Brand Territory

Territories are in a constant struggle to attract tourists, investments and residents striving for differentiation by exploiting the unique local values, which hold the essence of each one of them. This distinction is critical, differentiating each territory from others, and improving their competitive edge to be chosen as a favorite destination (Bigne et al., 2000). The application of branding in destination management has been used in recent years to generate a distinctive and competitive identity for a place, and distinguish it from others. And to be truly effective, the perceptions that a territory brand inspires in visitors and residents must align with the destination’s main assets and their presentation in marketing communication (Kotler and Gertner, 2002). In this sense, local products, such as wine and food, are valid levers that contribute to shaping the positioning and differential values of the territories. The purpose of this paper is to: a) Examine how advertising of different Denominations of Origin in the wine industry contributes to the image and positioning of the different regions, thus creating a distinct positioning and promoting the area’s identity and values; b) Analyze the content, strategies, and communication messages of the Denominations of Origin (of wine) across Spain. Through content analysis, combined with discourse analysis of the advertising strategies of a significant sample of Denominations of Origin (66 campaigns), we seek to establish variables for analysis and categorization of objectives, strategies, and discursive constructions that brands develop in their communication policies. Among the main results to highlight, the group of brands under scrutiny focused on the characteristics of the product while other strategies highlighted the values of the territory as main positioning values, that is, they served to communicate key aspects of the territory.