Respeitar a Tradição, Abraçar o Futuro
2021 | Respeitar a Tradição, Abraçar o Futuro
PROPÓSITO
Established in 1982, the Confraria do Vinho do Porto is a private association which hosts a community of approximately 2000 Confrades (75% honorary members) dedicated to communicating, promoting and consolidating the worldwide image of Port Wine and the region where it is produced. While the Confraria has a national and international prestige gained over 40 years, it became apparent that its future depended on modernising the organisationʼs approach to its members and activities, analysing its present status and adapting it to current needs.
Upon assessing the Confrariaʼs state at the time, it became clear that there were a series of problems that were blocking the organisationʼs potential. The Confrariaʼs activity was concentrated on two events - the Induction Ceremony of new Confrades and the Rabelo Boat Regatta - and there was a low level of involvement of the Confrades, especially the younger demographic. Furthermore, communication with Confrades was virtually non-existent, which contributed to the low participation and engagement felt throughout the organisation.
This opened up a number of opportunities for engagement with the Confrades and the creation of a more dynamic, active community.
Before outlining a strategy, 19 Confrades were interviewed in order to gauge their expectations, as well as understand their vision for the Confrariaʼs future. While the interviewees associated the Confraria with heritage, prestige and tradition, they also expressed confusion on the role of the organisation, explaining that communication and community involvement were two elements that should be improved. These Confrades saw potential in the Confraria, suggesting that it could work to appeal to a younger audience, as well as provide education on Port Wine. They saw the future as difficult, but acknowledged that an independent Confraria, with its own life, was full of possibilities.
The overwhelming objective of the Confraria do Vinho do Porto relaunch was to have it become an agent of change in Port Wine communication, reinforcing its value proposition, and defending tradition while keeping up with modern needs.
For this, multiple steps on various fronts were envisioned. The plan involved reinforcing the Confraria identity and relaunching all communication channels, including social media, in order to create proficient and communication-friendly organisation. This strategy was approved in the Confraria General Assembly of October 2021.
A new contemporary logo would be developed to strengthen the Confraria personality, and visually separate it from the Associação de Empresas do Vinho do Porto (AEVP) and the Instituto do Vinho do Porto (IVDP), thus reducing the confusion regarding identity.
*New contemporary logo for Confraria*
The Confraria website would be updated and used as a platform in which Confrades could communicate with each other, a quarterly newsletter would be sent out, e-mail marketing would be conducted and social media would feature seasonal campaigns counting on the Confradeʼs participation.
Online platforms would be used to stimulate engagement with the Confrariaʼs mission, promoting debates, tips and tricks, education and tastings. This would create a holistic communication flow, in which Confrades could keep up with the Confrariaʼs news, as well as interact with each other seamlessly - a real community.
Example of seasonal communication program:
*Instagram and Facebook content (2021)*
It was planned to double down on communication to make the Rabelo Boat Regatta an internationally recognised event as well as to optimise the yearly induction ceremony, making it the Confrariaʼs flagship event, in the Port Wine community. The goal was to make these events more dynamic, adding entertainment and levity to the tradition and pomp, appealing to a younger audience and exciting the older one.
A new database where Confrades could log in and find each other, find out about events, pay their Member Fees, among others - a one stop-shop for everything Confraria do Vinho do Porto was planned. Through this portal, members would also be asked to fill out questionnaires in a semi-regular way, in order to maintain a good notion of what the Confrades expected.
Finally, updating the statutes of the Confraria was planned, as well as mapping out the needed collaborations, finances and services to take the Confraria to its maximum potential.
With this plan in motion, the Confraria was set for healthy growth, taking advantage of its qualities, rooted in tradition and heritage, while modernising communications to take powerful contemporary approach to telling the Port Wine story communication.
However, it is easier to talk about change in the conceptual stages, and it is not unusual that during the implementation phase there is a significant level of resistance to changing the established processes.
This is the case with this project. The combination of an identified indifference on the part of the Effective Confrades and the “closed door” resistance of the service provider (AEVP - Association of Port Shippers) ended this project, which had been approved in the Confraria General Assembly of October 2021.
Failed