Mass Masstige Index: Application in Wine Brands and the Importance in Restaurant Communication

Introduction

The Tourism sector and several businesses have begun to explore the unconventional way of marketing luxury goods and services which promise status and superior experiences for the tourists (Correia et al., 2020; Goyal, 2021). Gastronomy is an important factor in the travel experience and its importance is increasing, it is something consumers look for when they choose a destination (Antón, Camarero, Laguna, & Buhalis, 2019). On the other hand, there is a consensus among tourism research that consumption of tourism products has a predominantly hedonic component (Antón et al., 2019; Carlsen & Boksberger, 2015; Kim, 2014). In this way, the consumption of masstige wine brands can translate this hedonic motivation of consumption experience into gastronomy and restaurants choices (Dhar & Wertenbroch, 2000; Kim, 2018).

Wine tourism provides an extraordinary experience to tourists (Santos et al., 2019). This extraordinary experience can be explained by several factors. One of those factors is the communication of the destination’s gastronomy and more specifically the communication of the wine brands (Brochado et al., 2021). According to Brochado et al. (2021, p. 597) “wine tourism thus refers to activities motivated by tourists’ desire to taste new wines and learn more about the traditions and cultures of wine-producing areas”. Then, we can posit that the wine tourism activities need to be focused on sensorial, experiential, symbolic and hedonic attributes (Crespi-Vallbona & Mascarilla-Miró, 2020).

According to Keller (2010), marketing communication is a helpful tool to build and manage brands – directly or indirectly, – thus informing and reminding consumers about functional, symbolic and hedonic attributes of the brand’s products. Masstige wine brands can be a source of differentiation in tourist destinations and gastronomic restaurants. Paul (2018b, p. 723) defines masstige marketing as “a phenomenon in which regular products with moderately high prices are marketed to the maximum number of consumers by creating mass prestige without lowering prices or without offering discounts”. This implies a strategy of wine brand positioning, aiming at creating mass prestige value for wine brands and for tourism destinations and gastronomic restaurants.

In the wine sector, Portugal is the 11^th wine producer in the world and holds the 9^th position regarding the global wine exports in value, and the 10^th position in volume, with a market share of almost 3% (IVV/Viniportugal, 2021). In 2021, according to data released by ViniPortugal, exports increased by 8,11% in export value compared to the same period in 2020, having exceeded 925 million EUR. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on the tourism sector, both for non-resident visitor tourism and domestic tourism, significantly reducing the global volume of wine being sold through this channel. However, with Portuguese consumers behaviour, we have witnessed the market’s recovery during 2021. One of the key factors was the premiumisation (Portugal Wine Landscapes, 2021). Portuguese regular wine drinkers continue to drink more expensive wines, this behaviour hasn’t changed with the pandemic. The lockdowns also provided more moments to drink wine, a reality we have observed in Portugal and in several countries, as this drink is a small luxury for those who want to indulge themselves when other indulgent or ambitious options, such as going out or traveling, have been severely limited (Portugal Wine Landscapes, 2021). In this moment, Portugal is the 7^th country in the scope of global wine consumption, with a per capita wine consumption (the highest in the world) of almost 51,9 litres per year, which is equivalent to approximately 69 bottles of 750 ml (OIV, 2021). The Portugal Wine Landscapes (2021) report highlights that the biggest growth in wine consumption came from younger consumers – those in the 18-34 and 35-49 year old age brackets.