What they do.

Part I — Claire & Mike Allan

Certified organic wines crafted and made by winemaker, Claire Allan, the winery was established and vines hand-planted in the early 1990’s.

With a moniker inspired by a New Zealand native bird now sadly instinct, environmental preservation and the natural habitat is the dominant focus for this beautiful family-owned vineyard and winery.

Huia wines feature in over 14 markets around the world with the USA being the most significant market for the brand. The Allans worked hard to establish Huia as a key producer of traditionally made sparkling wine. Having both done tenure in Champagne, Mike at Veuve Cliquot and Claire at Tattinger, the pair were well versed in crafting world-class fizz.

However, in 2020, Claire and Mike Allan separated and in the end, decided to put the winery, its vineyards and the brand on the market.

Part II — Tom Pegler

Huia was purchased in 2022 to investor Tom Pegler, who intended to be very much on the ground, working in the business. His vision was to retain the ethos of brand. The wines, sophisticated and elegant, are championed by a sparkling wine programme for which the winery is well known and much revered and which newly instated winemaker, Josh Lee, is set to continue crafting.

huiavineyards.com

What we did.

Part I — Feb 2015 to Oct 2022

During this period we drove New Zealand sales and managed distribution support actively travelling for the brand.
We activated budget forecasts and planning in conjunction with the distribution partner and coordinated trade marketing deals and incentives. We became the point of contact for the brand for all direct trade communications and participated in all sales & wine education practices for the client.

Global brand marketing was a key focus to ensure the brand had thoughtful activations to retain market relevance. We also oversaw all partnership & sponsorship relationships, sourcing new partnerships and managing all promotional activations. Event creating and execution was also our undertaking.

We managed the clients digital communications including social media (content creation, execution, comms). We designed and built the brand websites, which included second tier winery labels, for e-commerce activations and consumer communications.

We also assisted in auditing distribution relationships and procuring a new NZ based distributor along with writing invesment prospectus reports to ready the winery for sale.

Part II — Oct 2022 to June 2024

We continued to manage all brand communications and trade relationships, while looking to guide the new owner, new to the wine industry, through winery brand management acting as something of a General Manager for a period to allow him to settle into his new role.
We facilitated a total business audit and connected the new owner with potential business mentors and advisers and worked hard to develop an internal company culture in order to retain staff by way of project managing a company conference based in Blenheim that included international staff.
Our final project for Huia was as creative director to oversee a brand renovation to reflect a new chapter for this iconic NZ winery.

While we ended our contract with Huia before the new branding could be launched, we’re delighted to start to see it trickling into market at the time of writing (May 2025) and we’re very proud of this long-standing relationship.

Key partnerships:

Fashion Designer Kate Sylvester, McCahon House, Ben Bayly’s The Restaurant that Makes Mistakes (TVNZ) Artist Dr Fiona Pardington partnership, Starkwhite Gallery. Artist Owen Dippie sponsorship, Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards sponsorship.

New Label design: Part II Aaron Hosford at Font Studios

Photography Part I: Bonny Beattie
Photography Part II: Jim Trannock