Chalk Hill

The Harvey family is as much a part of the South Australian winemaking landscape as the soil in which they grow their grapes. In 1839 John Harvey became just the second person to plant grapevines north of Adelaide, before the now world-famous regions of Barossa and Clare were yet glimmers in local eyes.

Six generations later, the Harvey heritage now rests in the hands of John’s great-great-great grandson Tom, owner of Chalk Hill, one of McLaren Vale’s most celebrated wine labels.

Tom knew that his storied family history was no guarantee of future success, and understood the power of social media in spreading the good word. As a business that served award-winning drops from one of Australia’s most popular and spectacular cellar doors, Chalk Hill was brimming with social media potential.

The problem? It wasn’t as big online as it could be. At least not yet.

The aim

Chalk Hill is an undeniably chic brand, so a focus had been placed on social media aesthetics. Unfortunately the strategy had proved limiting. There was a salt-of-the-earth character to the label that its online presence lacked - something to make it more approachable, relatable, engaging.

Chalk Hill recognised this fact. The team got in touch with NINKI, who were challenged to rectify the situation.

While branding would remain important, NINKI saw an untapped opportunity in lo-fi photos and videos. Rather than judging content purely on beauty - whether a photo looked ‘good enough’ to represent the label - the focus would instead turn to how well the content connected brand to audience, and what a viewer might get from it.

Educational content was identified as a particularly rich seam to mine. A simple tutorial or fun fact could serve a few purposes: educate and engage the audience, humanise the brand, and show off Chalk Hill’s wines and location.

The approach

Headed by a wine-loving leader in Chanelle, NINKI set about crafting Chalk Hill content that would speak to the masses, not just the stylists and fashionistas.

On top of educational content, NINKI filled the feed with team, behind the scenes, vox pop and awards content. DSLRs were switched for phones to create a more shoot-from-the-hip vibe that felt less deliberate and more organic: content from a friend, who just happened to be a wine label, which invited you into their world.

Through regular content harvests at the cellar door and Chalk Hill-sponsored events, NINKI built up a stockpile of media for feed posts and stories across Facebook and Instagram.

Brand collaborations were also a feature of the new strategy, with complementary businesses like Woodside Cheese Wrights, Australian Bush Spices, Aus Meats and Koi Knives pairing their products with Chalk Hill’s finest, and sharing exposure to one another’s audiences in the process.

The results

Having stepped into the breach 12 months ago, NINKI has powered steady social media growth for Chalk Hill in the metrics that matter.

On Facebook, last quarter’s numbers were a significant improvement on those seen in the first quarter. Total views were up 77%, but even more impressively, the number of individual viewers rose more than 4x, meaning the brand was exposed to far more unique sets of eyes than the elevated view count suggested.

Content interactions were at their highest level yet, experiencing a more than two-fold jump in the most recent quarter alone. All the while a consistent stream of new followers - dozens per month - continued to flow in.

On Instagram interactions and content reach (the number of individuals Chalk Hill is exposed to) are currently both at all time highs, while their follower count, already over 12K, continues to grow by 100+ per month.

With Chalk Hill now capitalising on its unique value proposition, NINKI plans to dial up the lifestyle content in the next few months, to show that the wines don’t necessarily need to be enjoyed at the hilltop cellar door - they’re just as delicious at home, with friends or while touching grass.

With effectiveness now taking priority over aesthetics on socials, Chalk Hill’s wines look set to be guzzled by more people than ever before… including Chanelle and her NINKI team.