“The Barefoot Spirit”, tells the story of Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey and the journey of their brand of wine, Barefoot. Barefoot has become a brand that most people in America can identify. However, Barefoot was not always a brand with such a reputation. This story explains the Barefoot brand from its conception, and enables the reader to follow Bonnie and Michael on their journey to success. The format of the work allows the reader to gain a great deal of knowledge from Michael and Bonnie’s perspective. There are instances in the work where there are questions asked, and either Michael or Bonnie responds. This allows the reader a clear understanding of Michael and Bonnie’s struggles, as well as their vision …show more content…
This is conveyed to the reader when Michael and Bonnie were planning on Mr. Brown agreeing to bring Barefoot into Lucky stores. However, at this point, Mr. Brown was not saying yes, but he wasn’t saying no either. Mr. Brown was simply saying not right now. The sixth practical nugget explained in the work is a concept called Velocity Price Point. In the work, it is explained that wine that is sold at a specific price point will sell better than one at a different price point. The seventh practical nugget taught by the work is never start negotiations at your lowest price. When Michael had finally convinced Mr.Brown to bring Barefoot into Lucky stores, Mr. Brown wanted the wine at a lower price. At this point, Michael was already at his lowest price. This is where we learn about the concept of making up for a compromised profit margin on volume …show more content…
One thing that made them different was the idea of simplicity. From the beginning, it was their desire for their wine to be simple and approachable. In addition for their desire of their brand to be recognizable and approachable, they did not have much money for marketing in the beginning. One of the most important aspects of their brand (or any brand), was their logo, and the ideas and design behind that logo. Early on in the work, Mr. Brown tells Michael what the logo should not look like, and also had mentioned that the logo needs to be visible from a few feet away. Michael and Bonnie also utilized labels in a way that was different than other wine companies at the time. Barefoot utilizes the back label on the wine bottle to market their product. In addition, Bonnie and Michael utilized something they referred to as “Worthy Cause Marketing”. The way it was described in the work was that they would donate wine for an event for veterans, for example. Their logo would be seen at these functions, people would be exposed to their wine, and once they tried it, Bonnie and Michael were convinced that the customer would go seeking their wine. So this worthy cause marketing was very lucrative because it was a relatively low cost investment, and the return could be pretty significant, by driving a demand for the product. It definitely assisted in Michael and Bonnie building their