In a recent episode of the Italian Wine Podcast, Barbara Fitzgerald IWA speaks with Courtney O’Brien, founder of The Outlier Initiative and the brand strategist behind giants like Coke Zero, Evian, and Apothic. Her message for the wine world is refreshingly direct: wine isn’t as unique as it thinks it is, and that’s exactly why the industry can learn from other beverage categories.
Courtney O’Brien
Courtney’s career has spanned some of the most competitive corners of the beverage world. She helped launch Coke Zero into a billion-dollar megabrand, reshaped Evian within Danone’s portfolio, and later brought that same positioning discipline to E. & J. Gallo, where she worked on category-defining wines like Apothic Red and Clos du Bois.
Across those experiences, she notices something consistent: brands in high-pressure categories are forced to be simple, clear, and consumer-focused. Wine, on the other hand, often isn’t.
And that’s where the opportunity lies.
Wine’s Love of Its Own Story Isn’t a Strategy
Wine marketing tends to begin where consumers’ interest often ends: the vineyard. Courtney puts it bluntly:
“Sometimes, we get carried away with our own stories, and our own love of the product and the industry and we forget that the majority of the people that drink wine even on a once in a while basis do not necessarily share our passion for this as a life style and they are thirsty, they are looking to party, they are looking to celebrate, and their level of interest may not go down to the level of the grape and where it was born”.
Meanwhile, brands like Coke Zero weren’t successful because consumers cared about the product’s engineering. They succeeded because the positioning was laser-focused on a simple promise: tastes like the original, zero sugar. Imagine if Coke Zero’s marketing talked about the vast amounts of research and development Coca-Cola puts into finding sugar alternatives, getting the color and consistency right of their product, and the engineering feat of producing a globally recognized brand that tastes the same regardless of where you are?
Similarly, Evian in their brand marketing didn’t lead with mineral analyses; it led with lifestyle and aspiration.
Wine doesn’t need to abandon its stories, but stories can’t replace strategy. Courtney argues that clarity in brand identity is what creates demand, not poetic descriptions of terroir.
“The OG Natural Beverage”: Wine’s Untapped Advantage
One of Courtney’s most compelling points is that wine already aligns with the biggest trends driving consumer behavior. It fits today’s “whole food halo” better than nearly any other beverage. In a time when consumers appreciate and value naturalness, wine should stand above other categories because it inherently is; not made in a factory, a natural product (fermentation of grapes!), its processing (fermentation) is natural, and to top it off, has heritage and regionality baked in.
As Courtney says, wine is the original natural beverage.
But instead of using that as a competitive edge, many brands bury it under layers of over-romanticized storytelling or archaic messaging.
Other beverage categories, from coconut water to kombucha, have built empires around “naturalness” with far less authenticity behind them. Wine has the substance, it just needs simplicity.
The Transparency Gap: Where Wine Is Falling Behind
Across food and beverage, transparency has become the norm. Consumers expect to know everything: processing, sourcing, calories, additives, yet we aren’t quite seeing this with wine yet as, for whatever reason, we’re giving products like wine a pass. But there is opportunity. This stems from the belief that if information we put out doesn’t add to our story as wine makers/marketers, it detracts from our story (that’s not always the case).
Courtney does however, mention some simple additions to labelling that could build trust and appeal to younger drinkers:
- Calories
- Harvest date
- Press date
Not because consumers need a technical breakdown, but because transparency signals honesty, especially in a time when we’ve normalized transparency everywhere, from nutrition and calories labeled on fast food menus, to product websites breaking down how their products are made.
Wine, however, often avoids sharing information when it doesn’t fit the brand story. What we should be asking however, is if this doesn’t detract from the narrative, but enhances credibility when it’s something we’ve been so adapted to seeing.
The caution? Transparency must be accurate. For example, a “harvest date” can mislead consumers if a winery buys fruit rather than grows it. But used correctly, it can bring wine in line with modern consumer expectations.
The Real Lesson: Clarity Wins in Crowded Markets
Wine is a saturated market full of noise, tradition, and complexity. Borrowing from beverage categories that fight for every inch of shelf space isn’t a downgrade, it’s a smart upgrade.
Courtney O’Brien’s success with billion-dollar brands wasn’t built on luck or budget; it was built on disciplined positioning. If wine brands want to stand out to modern consumers, they don’t need more romance. They need more focus.
Listen to the Full Interview:
