You are 10 years old - happy anniversary. Tell us how you came together in the first place to start Spritz?
We were both at a stage in our own professional lives where we needed to make a change, I was working part-time with my own clients and had too much work on my plate for one person with young children, and Astrid was navigating her next career move after having twins. Neither of us particularly wanted to work on our own and thrive on collaborative working and being in a team.
As fate would have it, it just so happened that Astrid’s sister, Val, suggested a meeting between us – many conversations later, and after poring over the Jancis Robinson MW wine term/glossary for an interesting name - Spritz was born two weeks later.
Elizabeth Cook had worked for a number of drinks brands and generic wine campaigns - including a spell at Wine Australia - before setting up Spritz
We had been friends and acquaintances since the mid-2000s when I worked in marketing at Wine Australia and Astrid was at Negociants, so we had known each other for nearly 10 years at that point.
What did you want to offer that was different from other PRs and be your point of difference?
We always focused on the type of clients we wanted to work with. Clients with wines and businesses we could believe in, that had real stories and real people behind the labels. We started out solely focussing on family-run and independent companies where we could become part of the team, thereby fully understanding all aspects of the business, giving us an edge to find all sorts of opportunities for them.
We work hard to be trusted to be a safe pair of hands and an extension of the team with all our clients.
Ten years on what do you identify as being your key strengths and where you think you can really stand out?
Astrid Lewis has held a number of senior roles in marketing, PR, events and commercial and brand management before setting up Spritz
We are so lucky to work in a brilliant industry with so many characters, and we’ve both been able to forge many friendships in the wine world over the years. Interestingly, when we started working together, we realised that although we knew a few of the same people, our contacts in the industry were actually quite different as our work experience and backgrounds were very different, so our strengths tend to complement each other.
If we don’t know the answer to a question, whether it is from a member of the press, a client, an advertiser or a member of the trade, we will be honest and admit we don’t know, then promise to move heaven and earth to find the answer. If we can’t deliver an answer, again, we’ll be honest and say so.
Any particular campaigns and projects over the 10 years that you are most proud of?
We have loved working with so many of our clients over the years and it is the long-standing retainer clients we are most proud of, as these are where we can see we have helped shaped their journey in the UK.
Spritz has helped steer and manage Jeroboams' trade and national PR
Here I am thinking in particular about Jeroboams, whose transformation over the last eight years has been incredible, they are a super smart business and we’re very proud to be a small part of that success.
Kopke is another client we often hold up as a great example of what longevity can achieve. When we first started working with them, they weren’t part of conversation within the UK media space but now they are at the forefront, especially when talking about white and tawny ports.
When you have worked with a client over a long period, getting into the fabric of the company helps you to formulate the best plans for future partnerships. Trust is so important, and we feel they trust us to let us get on with the job knowing that we will do the best we can to tell their stories, make an impact and get their product into the glasses of the right people.
What skills have you had to learn that you did not need 10 years ago or have to rely on a lot more?
The growing and ever-changing social media scene and how to work with new media. It is a steep learning curve, with a new language and skills that we are still grappling with. Thankfully there are so many lovely people we work with in the communicator sphere who are infinitely patient with us, giving top tips to help improve our own social strategy.
It’s been good to be reminded that an element of fun is really important, and our industry sometimes forgets that the product we work with is to be enjoyed, especially when there are so many external influences affecting the broader trade that we need to be mindful of.
How do you make sure you are on top of what a potential client might need?
The work that Spritz does is wide and varied including organising a number of events, seminars and masterclasses like here for Pinot Noir Unleashed
One of the main things we have learned is that you never know who might be able to help, offer new ideas or suggest exciting and interesting alternatives to traditional forms of PR. We love collaborating with our fellow PRs and feel that we are stronger as a network than solo islands.
Going to industry events, networking and always being open to suggestions ensures we can find great opportunities for our clients. In terms of re-learning, there have been so many things, from social media to accounting to bringing in the right people to add new skills that you might not already have.
What do you think is the key in being able to understand what a client is looking for and how you can best deliver it?
Asking the right questions – sometimes questions the clients themselves don’t know the answers to.
Our favourite question though is: “What does success look like to you?”. This really allows us to understand if we can help them or not, especially if they have not worked with a PR company before.
Ideally we can offer potential clients a combination of elements of the marketing and PR mix, and every client is so different based on where they see their business and what they want to achieve.
Any times when you have walked away from a project as you did not feel you were the right fit - is that an important discipline to learn and apply as a PR?
Yes, absolutely. It’s never easy, especially because of the nature of our relationships with our clients, you never quite know when you’re going to need more work in the pipeline, but we have certainly walked away from a number of opportunities because they didn’t feel right.
We have always said that we will only work with businesses we believe in, wines we like and would drink ourselves, and people who ‘get’ us. It’s important that new clients understand that results don’t happen overnight either.
What have been the key challenges and difficulties down the years and how have you overcome them?
Without mentioning the obvious, like Brexit, Covid and a cost-of-living crisis, juggling parenthood whilst trying to build a business has been one of the hardest things to manage.
Knowing we couldn’t be at as many events as our competitors; not having the scope to take on larger contracts due to our size; not having enough hours in the day-all added to the unpredictable nature of young children - has made the last 10 years an adventure, we never quite knew what was round the corner.
With the reduction of column inches and a changing communications landscape, a good PR and marketing plan takes even more time to implement so results are rarely instantaneous. This can be difficult to explain when you first start working with a client.
The Spritz team has now expanded with the help and support of Marinel Fitzimons, Gemma Duncan and Jane Kelly
The challenges we faced right at the beginning of the Spritz journey are still very real now.However, we are absolutely thrilled to now have the most brilliant professionals working with us to build on our expertise and our output. With Marinel (Fitzsimons) and Gemma (Duncan) joining us, together with Jane who has been working with us for years (and now has the flex to bring us up to speed with our social presence), we’ve got a great vibe within our Spritz team that we are very focussed on nurturing.
We are all quite different individually but have the same work ethic and loads of combined experience, so it’s been a revelation to let everyone work to their strengths, work flexibly, and we are focussed on building not just on what we are able to provide now, but where we are (collectively) going as Spritz.
What do you think delivers the best value for a customer - likes and retweets engagements etc on social media, or traditional content in trade and consumer press - or a combination of them both?
In this day and age, for a company not to look at a mixture of both traditional column inches and online interactions is a mistake. The wine communication landscape has changed so much in the last five to 10 years, and everyone needs to adapt.
At the end of the day, we all want to inspire consumers to be inquisitive about wine and drinks, and confident enough to make the step to purchase, so we always need to be watching where the consumers are looking for inspiration. For now, that most definitely means a combination of traditional and ‘new’ media.
Do you think drinks businesses are more focused on getting their messaging/ content and PR right than they were a decade ago?
Definitely. And I think they are a lot savvier now too on how you measure success.
What would be your one message to a drinks company looking for PR and to raise their profile - what are the Qs they need to ask of a prospective PR to get the right business to work with?
There are the obvious points: have a brief, know what you want to achieve and think about how you would measure that success. However, you really need to feel the PR company understands you and you need to want them to be involved.
Share what you are doing (that is working) in other markets that could be of use here. Explain your vision. Trust them to share your wines, your story, your ideas and bring them into the broader plan.
The UK drinks world has a really great bunch of passionate and insightful PR and drinks communication agencies, so it really is about the client and the agency understanding and trusting each other and working together to achieve the best results.
* You can find out more about what Spritz does at its website here.
* If you are a drinks PR agency and would like to share how you work on The Buyer then email Richard Siddle on richardsiddle5@gmail.com.
