A marketing manager who redesigned an international wine brand, owned by an Australian company with a wine and spirit portfolio boasting $33 million in annual sales across Asia, is the toast of her industry after clinching a top award at the 2016 Sydney City Regional Business Awards.
In just three years at DMG Fine Wines, Imogen Hayes has launched the Handpicked wines brand across Asia, landing it in Qantas First Class, through all major Australian airports and many five star hotels in China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Cambodia and Korea.
Ms Hayes is the winner of the Young Business Executive category award, as part of the NSW Business Chamber Business Awards sponsored by the City of Sydney that celebrates young people who have achieved outstanding results in a business environment.
Her contemporary, innovative approach has resulted in sales increasing by 72 per cent in fiscal year 2016.
“Our marketing strategy revolves around travel and lifestyle themes that resonate with an international idea of luxury – not just stories of soil and winemaking common in the industry,” said Imogen Hayes, Marketing Manager of DMG Fine Wines.
“The vision of Handpicked is a very non-traditional wine model. It allows wine lovers everywhere to taste wines from all of the world’s best regions, under one trusted brand.”
Ms Hayes believes her time spent studying in Hong Kong and working with Asia’s first Master of Wine Jeannie Cho Lee, kicked-off her passion for wine and gave her invaluable cross-cultural experience that helped her re-invigorate the wines brand in Asia.
“I was so fortunate to work alongside Jeannie, who was the first Asian to obtain the prestigious Master of Wine title held by only 341 people across five continents.
“From her, I learned to look at traditional wine marketing and work out how I can do things in a different way through packaging, design and events that strongly resonate with Asian audiences.
“That means considering things like visual cues, using bolder colours and more visual labels to appeal to a non-English speaking audience who find traditional labels very confusing.”
DMG Fine Wines - the producer and distributor of Handpicked wines and Two Eights wines - has offices in central Sydney, and is also the Australian and New Zealand distributor for Kweichow Moutai, the national liquor of China.
The company covers all of Australia’s fine wine regions and also make wines in Italy, France, Spain and Chile.
“While we make wines across Australia and beyond, and sell to many markets, most of our team are based in Sydney, so this is the city that resonates most strongly with us,” said Ms Hayes.
“It’s a huge privilege to win this award in a city that has so many interesting businesses and cultures. The award has given me confidence in what we are doing, and has helped me reflect on what good leadership qualities are and how to achieve them.”
DMG Fine Wines will be launching an urban cellar door in Chippendale towards the end of the year, along with a new ecommerce and delivery platform.
Lord Mayor Clover Moore said Ms Hayes was among a talented pool of small business leaders operating in the Sydney region that took home top honours at the recent business awards.
“These awards represent the incredibly diverse mix of businesses in our city, which at the last floor space and employment survey delivered 40 per cent of all the jobs growth across great metropolitan Sydney,” the Lord Mayor said.
“We’re thrilled to be able to celebrate the incredible achievements of our many small-to-medium sized businesses, as a sponsor of the NSW Business Chamber Business Awards, giving local businesses and the people behind them a fantastic opportunity to showcase their innovative ideas to the rest of the state and learn from other business leaders.”
Nine businesses collected awards in the Sydney City regional awards program, judged and staged by the NSW Business Chamber and sponsored by the City.
Imogen Hayes will join an impressive list of Sydney-based businesses competing with businesses from across the state for top honours at the 2016 NSW Business Chamber Business Awards on 25 November.
The City is a proud sponsor of the state-wide Excellence in Small Business category award, and has recently boosted its sponsorship of the NSW Business Chamber Business Awards to create an expanded regional awards program.
The expansion will allow all local businesses from 2017 to enter the Sydney City Regional Business Awards whether or not they are members of a local chamber.
The Sydney City Regional Business Awards are held each year, with applications for the 2017 Awards opening in May and the finalists announced in July.
For more information on the Sydney City Region Business Awards program and how to enter, visit business-support/programs-and-seminars/business-awards or email citybusiness@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au.
For media inquiries or images, contact City of Sydney Senior Media Adviser Belinda Wallis on 0467 810 160 or email bwallis@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au