Wine marketing innovator Terry Wheatley is back doing what she loves — brand building

Terry Wheatley, an experienced wine marketer known for creating innovative wine brands such as Purple Cowboy and Middle Sister as well as the sizable Wine Sisterhood social media community, is back to doing what she loves — creating and building brands.

Eight months after she left Vintage Wine Estates as president amid restructuring at that Santa Rosa-anchored company, Wheatley has teamed up with three other former executives in wine, spirits and consumer goods marketing to form an all-women agency.

Based in Napa, Connect the Dots Collective aims to help beverage companies small and large through an integrated approach to branding, digital and e-commerce marketing and sales, and public relations.

“We’re focused on the convergence of the retail with the digital world,” Wheatley said.

A number of wineries quickly learned how to leverage e-commerce and digital marketing early in the pandemic when tasting rooms and restaurants couldn’t open to the public. But Wheatley thinks many vintner outreach efforts remain “siloed,” with the direct-to-consumer sales team handling digital marketing, and point-of-sale and traditional media marketing handled by the wholesale team.

Wheatley illustrated Connect the Dots’ approach by pointing to the launch of Vintage’s Bar Dog wine brand, a project she worked on with partners Jessica Kogan, former chief digital and customer experience officer, and Jenna Duran, former vice president of marketing. They worked with retailers to set up Facebook and locally targeted digital advertising, and give the chains digital assets such as videos and brand story along with product images.

This combination of marketing for digital and brick-and-mortar audiences has become key, Wheatley said, as shopper patterns have changed their buying habits through the pandemic toward more shopping on store or delivery apps before they arrive at the physical location.

The agency’s fourth partner is Stephanie Duran, a Napa Valley resident whose brand design work spans decades and includes stints at major wine and consumer goods companies such as E. & J. Gallo Winery and The Gap.

In addition to wine, Connect the Dots is interested in creating “functional beverages.” That means it contains some components in demand among health-conscious younger consumers, such as CBD, vitamins or mushrooms for mental focus.

The agency plans to launch three of its own brands, starting with direct-to-consumer sales this summer as a proving ground for a spring 2025 rollout to retailers nationally.

A key platform for that market testing is the Wine Sisterhood online community that Wheatley started after she launched Canopy Management in 2008. That Napa-based wine sales and marketing company developed several brands such as Purple Cowboy, Middle Sister and CBD-infused Jim and Jane.

The Wine Sisterhood group on Facebook grew to nearly 400,000 members by the time Vintage acquired Canopy and its brands in 2017.

Wheatley progressed upward through Vintage, rising to president of the fast-growing wine company in July 2018. In February of last year, Vintage announced it would start a restructuring plan. By that July, Wheatley had resigned amid a second round of job cuts.

In addition to the $1.4 million she received in her separation agreement, Wheatley obtained ownership of the Purple Cowboy, Gem & Jane and Wine Sisterhood trademarks.

Wheatley plans to invest in growing the Wine Sisterhood to around 1 million members, to make it an even more powerful tool for gauging consumer interest.

The agency has already had promising discussions with both large national brands and smaller companies seeking assistance with digital transformation.

While focused on organic growth, Wheatley did not rule out potential partnerships depending on strategic fit.

“We’ve been approached by a couple of companies. They’ve got the brand; we’ve got the expertise — can we meet in the middle,” she said. “Those are interesting to us, where we could call our shots and not live with past mistakes.”

Vintage earlier this year said that part of its restructuring plan will include selling off certain assets, namely digital-oriented and direct-to-consumer brands. Key labels in the portfolio with that profile include Cameron Hughes, Windsor Vineyards and the Vinesse club.

Wheatley said buying those brands isn’t likely a connection her agency wants to make.

Jeff Quackenbush covers wine, construction and real estate. Reach him at jquackenbush@busjrnl.com or 707-521-4256.