The Hunter Valley Wine Industry Association and Wine Country Tourism boards had always operated independently. The brief was for the Hunter Valley to have one voice, combining them under the one brand architecture, with the flexibility to use core elements to highlight various events. Also, to revive a fairly dusty and tired destination/wine region brand and to make it more attractive to a younger Sydney-centric audience.

Extensive stakeholder analysis was undertaken in both a series of one on one interviews and focus groups with local vineyard owners and accommodation providers, and then re-articulated to supply a clear road map for the way forward. Working with the brand essence ‘Simple Sophistication’ the creative platform attaches modernity to heritage through the use of minimal logotypes/monogram, black and white imagery, hand-painted accent colours (reflecting landscape, viniculture, emotion) and revived classic typography.