DIGITAL BRANDING OF REGIONAL WINE COMPANIES IN SLOVAKIA, CZECH REPUBLIC AND GERMANY

Regional branding plays a significant role in wine industry. The purpose of this study was to analyze how regional wine companies in three European Union countries proceed when building a brand in a digital world. A sample of wine companies from Slovakia, Czech Republic and Germany was analyzed. In each of the selected three categories (Website features, Social media portfolio and Communication / Content Strategy) such attributes were chosen that made an evaluation possible when expressed as a binary value. Results in the category of Website features show that 3 of 22 selected Slovak wine companies do not use in 2016 an own website. Slovak as well as Czech regional wine companies underestimate the importance of having an own website optimized for mobile devices or to use responsive web design. Activities of Slovak wine companies were insufficient for establishing and building relationships with customers through story telling. Slovak wine companies achieved the worst results compared to Czech and German wine companies when creating a regional brand.