Marketer – Wine

Tracie McPherson

Like all good wine, the company behind one of South Australia’s best known wineries is constantly evolving. Much of the recent evolution of Angove’s can be attributed to Tim Boydell and his strategy to take the South Australian wine company to the world.

From jackaroo to futures trader to global wine marketer, Adelaide-born Mr Boydell has had a varied and successful career.

However, it is the wine industry where his real passion lies, in his role of marketing and sales director of Australia’s 10th largest winery by branded wine sales.
With more than 20 years’ experience in the wine industry, having established his own company in Sydney, Boydell & Smith Fine Wine Merchants, Mr Boydell came to the wine industry from an agriculture background.

He attributes his broad experience as central to his current success. In the mid 1990s, he worked for a short time as a futures trader on the Sydney Futures Exchange.

“I was brought up on a farm and lived that life for many years before having to fight for survival on the Sydney Futures Exchange,” Mr Boydell says. “There are different ways to do it tough – and you learn from all of them. At the same time, you learn how to succeed and work with a range of different people under such polar circumstances.”
Since joining Angove’s as export manager in 1998, he has been directly involved in growing the fifth generation family company’s sales interstate and overseas. He is now a member of Angove’s board of directors.

A highlight of his career came in November when he secured the biggest export deal in Angove’s 120-year history – a deal expected to lift company turnover by 20 per cent.

The deal signed in Honolulu with the fifth largest winery in the U.S. – Trinchero Family Estates – came as Angove’s announced a record annual sales result on the back of a strong export performance.

For the 12 months to August 31, 2005, Angove’s recorded sales of $51.5 million, up from $46 million the previous year, and at a time when the Australian wine industry is facing significant challenges.

Based in the Riverland but with offices in Tea Tree Gully and interstate, Angove’s exports to more than 30 countries and employs more than 200 people.
Recently, it was named the Business SA HSBC Agribusiness Exporter of the Year for 2005, the winery’s third such award in four years.

Angove’s is now setting its sights on a $100 million turnover within the next seven years.

Exporting has become a prime driver of business and new and existing markets are expected to help to boost the company’s growth. “Acquisitions, new products, product development and diversification will also be a key to our future success,” Mr Boydell says.

Travelling between between Adelaide, Renmark and Sydney each week, an overwhelming component of Mr Boydell’s role is relationships related. “I am working in an industry I am fiercely passionate about and I am working for a great South Australian family company – what could be better than that,” he says.

“My job is made so much easier when you have such fantastic value-for-money brands to market such as Long Row, Red Belly Black, Bear Crossing and St Agnes Brandy.”

In addition, his expertise and success in helping build the Angove’s brand globally resulted in him being named 2005 Australian Marketing Director of the Year at the JML Australia Human Capital Awards.

Angove’s popularity in overseas markets, particularly in Asia, was attributed to the company being family owned, he says.

“There have been many parties interested in the business but they have all been turned away. It’s proudly family owned and apart from offering a point of difference it also adds to the credibility of the brand,” he says. “We are still establishing ourselves as a global player but at the same time we are focused on retaining our sense of being family owned.}

“This is particularly important when based in a regional community. Everything we do has an impact on our local community and region.”