This is the story of how Australian fine wine brand St Hugo and Aussie F1® star Daniel Ricciardo created an iconic piece of merch - a $700aud decanter, inspired by his trademark podium celebration - to launch their latest range of wines and ignite his fan base. The campaign generated 25,000 website visits and $1.2M in revenue in the first four weeks alone and was the most successful launch in the brand’s 40-year history.
St Hugo is Australia’s second largest premium wine brand, with a 40-year heritage and an aging customer base. In order to attract younger drinkers, St Hugo announced a multi-year partnership with Ricciardo in 2021 and launched the first range of DR3 x St Hugo wines to much acclaim from his 7.4million fans. Given his Italian heritage, crazy charisma and huge social media following, it was the perfect pairing. The challenge when launching the new range of wines was how to generate the same buzz, when the partnership was no longer new news.
The answer was merch. Not just any merch, but a bespoke, limited edition piece of culturally iconic merch created for the campaign and dropped exclusively through Ricciardo’s socials. Inspired by his trademark “shoey” podium celebration, the limited edition ‘Ricciardo Decanter’ was modeled precisely on one of Ricciardo’s actual racing boots, and was unveiled to the press on 4th April in the lead up to the Formula 1® Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
With just 1,100 made, the limited edition Decanters went on sale for $700 a piece alongside the new 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon and 2020 Shiraz wines on StHugo.com/DR3.
The finely contoured glass decanter was designed by Industrial Designer Andrew Simpson and his team at Vert. Digital sculpting techniques were used to ensure every facet of Daniel’s racing boot was rendered in meticulous detail, followed by multiple rounds of prototypes to translate and refine the shoe profile from on-screen to in-hand.
The decanters, which hold one bottle of DR3 wine, are designed to deliver an exceptional experience by ensuring the optimal release of the wine’s flavours and aromas. Painstakingly hand-blown and moulded by Australia’s leading glass artists Canberra Glassworks, each decanter required 5 artists working simultaneously to create the unique form.
According to Daniel himself, “I’m so proud and overwhelmed by the reaction we had for the launch of DR3 x St Hugo. When St Hugo approached me with the idea of creating a piece to showcase our wines at their best, I was excited to see the creative inspiration, and so the Ricciardo Decanter was born.”
The campaign had more in common with a sneaker drop than a wine launch. From the celebrity collaboration, to the leveraging of a trademark cultural moment and the creation of limited edition merch. Even teasing the launch through Riccardo’s social channels and a comprehensive PR outreach program broke all the rules of how to launch a fine wine.
The result was the most successful wine launch in St Hugo’s 40-year history, generating $1.2m in the first four weeks… and we sold out of all 1,100 $700aud decanters.