Premium wine and spirits brand achieves 167% ROI improvement and 500%+ growth in media-driven case volume by building trust across functions
Growth through distribution expansion eventually hits a ceiling. For Josh Cellars, the highest-selling table wine in the premium segment, that moment arrived after impressive, rapid growth through expanded door count and variety. With distribution achieving ubiquity and aggressive growth targets still in place, the brand faced a natural evolution point.
The path forward required shifting from distribution-led growth to brand-driven demand. But making that transition successfully meant answering a question most wine and spirits brands struggle with: how do you get the entire organization, from the President to the CFO to sales teams to media agencies, to commit millions in budget and align supply chain planning years in advance?
Since 2018, Josh Cellars and CMO Dan Kleinman have worked with Ipsos MMA to build organizational alignment around measurement, resulting in marketing spend that scaled substantially while above-the-line profit ROI improved 167%, a 15% compounded annual growth rate over 7+ years. In addition, media-driven case volume grew more than 500% over that same time frame, with overall case sales now achieving over 5 million annually.
When an organization builds genuine alignment around advanced predictive analytics and uses it to coordinate planning across every function that touches growth, amazing things happen.
When Your Growth Engine Evolves
Josh Cellars built its initial success on the product fundamentals of consistently high ratings for the price point, strong packaging, and smart distribution strategy. The brand expanded rapidly by increasing both door count and items per store, moving beyond their original varietals to offer a full portfolio.
Distribution expansion had been executed exceptionally well, reaching most target stores faster than many brands ever dream to achieve. The natural next phase was then to maintain aggressive growth through serious investment in brand building via above-the-line media, something the organization had done at smaller scale but never as the primary growth driver.
Measurement as Strategic Infrastructure
Making substantial increases in brand investment meant convincing multiple stakeholders, each with different priorities and definitions of success, that the strategy would work.
Ipsos MMA developed comprehensive Unified Measurement Models that considered the full breadth of marketing investment across both above-the-line media and below-the-line promotional activity. The models provided insights into when incremental cases would materialize over time, with impact windows extending up to 36 months.
Wine production requires planning years in advance. Supply chain needed to know when demand would materialize. Finance needed to understand cash flow timing. Sales needed to commit volume to distributors. Media agencies needed to plan upfront buys.
Everyone needed to work from the same numbers, or the strategy would fracture. Year after year, the models delivered accurate forecasts and forward-looking insights on how to continue to drive aggressive case sales growth. That consistency built the organizational confidence required for a true strategic shift.
Forcing Alignment, Not Hoping for It
Different functions naturally view marketing investment through different lenses, but each perspective has merit, which is precisely why alignment is difficult.
Under Dan Kleinman’s leadership, Josh Cellars used measurement to drive real decisions rather than letting it become another data point in ongoing internal debates.
Annual strategy sessions brought together the CMO, President, CFO, media agency, sales, and trade marketing teams to war-game through various scenarios. Professional disagreement was expected, but everyone left the table aligned on where dollars would move.
Over time, these sessions evolved. Early on, they required convincing the skeptics of the power of the analytics. As forecasts consistently hit their marks, the focus shifted to coordinating execution across functions that already had confidence in the numbers.
From Annual Planning to Weekly Execution
As trust in the analytics grew, Josh Cellars evolved beyond strategic budget setting and more deeply into tactical media planning.
Ipsos MMA began to provide weekly optimized media schedules that the media agency used as their buying framework. While most brands use measurement for annual or quarterly strategy reviews, Josh Cellars embedded it into their ongoing media execution, combining strategic planning with agile optimization for campaign-level adjustments.
The Results
Years of consistent measurement application and disciplined cross-functional implementation have delivered quantifiable business impact:
- ROI Growth: Above-the-line profit ROI improved 167%, a 15% compounded annual growth rate
- Volume Growth: Media-driven incremental case volume increased more than 500% over seven years
- Investment Scale: Marketing spend scaled substantially while improving profitability
- Sustained Momentum: Even after COVID-driven surges in off-premise wine sales, Josh Cellars continued growing rather than declining back to baseline
Why This Works
Josh Cellars’ success stems from organizational choices empowered by analytical sophistication.
Accurate forecasts earn credibility. When models consistently deliver on their projections, stakeholders who might otherwise fight over budget allocation can align around shared expectations. Getting sales, marketing, finance and leadership into the same room to make decisions eliminates friction that typically prevents optimal allocation.
Understanding that media impact extends years rather than quarters allows capital allocation aligned with the production realities of wine. Supply chain, finance, sales, and media working from the same forecasts means faster decisions and bigger commitments than competitors still fighting internal battles.
“Quantifying the long-term impact of marketing with confidence enabled us to build a growth strategy that the entire organization could commit to,” said Dan Kleinman, CMO of Josh Cellars. “When your CFO, President, sales teams, and external partners are working from forecasts they can depend on, you can move faster and commit bigger than competitors still debating internally about where to invest.”
