How Agency Squid Took FitVine Wine National—and Helped Rewrite the Wine Marketing Playbook
The U.S. wine category has long relied on a familiar marketing formula: sweeping vineyard vistas, moody jazz voiceovers, and tropes of exclusivity. But as consumer preferences shifted toward functionality, transparency, and lifestyle alignment, few wine brands were equipped to evolve.
Enter FitVine Wine—and Agency Squid.
As the agency behind the national “Live Your Fit” campaign, we helped position FitVine as the wine brand for today’s health-conscious, socially active consumer. Drawing from our success launching White Claw Hard Seltzer—and our understanding of what drives modern alcohol purchasing behavior—we reimagined what wine could look, sound, and feel like.
The Opportunity: Rebranding Wine for the Wellness-Minded Consumer
While hard seltzer surged with low-calorie messaging and ingredient simplicity, wine brands continued to market themselves through the lens of old-world heritage and exclusivity. But FitVine Wine had a different idea: create a cleaner, more inclusive, better-for-you wine, and bring it to market with a modern CPG playbook.
The product already stood out:
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Lower sugar and fewer sulfites than traditional wines
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Gluten-free, keto-, and paleo-friendly
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Made for active consumers who care about what they put in their bodies—but still want to unwind
What FitVine needed was a partner who could help them scale nationally and build a lifestyle brand with mass-market reach.
That’s where Agency Squid came in.
Strategy: From Disruptor to National Player
We approached FitVine the same way we helped define the launch strategy for White Claw: by identifying unmet consumer needs, building from cultural truths, and delivering a brand that felt relevant, real, and repeatable across channels.
1. Modernizing the Visual Language of Wine
FitVine didn’t want to talk like the wine industry. So we designed a visual and verbal identity that felt more like wellness CPG and less like Napa.
We took traditional wine visuals—grapes, barrels, glasses—and juxtaposed them with everyday, inclusive moments: post-workout pours, weeknight dinner tables, and backyard hangs. The result was a breakthrough national campaign:
“Live Your Fit.”
This became our brand platform for all messaging: flexible enough for performance media, influencer engagement, and out-of-home, but structured enough to consistently reinforce brand benefits like low sugar, clean ingredients, and active lifestyle alignment.
2. High-Impact Media That Moved the Needle
Out-of-Home & Digital Billboards
We brought the brand to the streets—and the screens—with a bold mix of static and dynamic placements across top U.S. markets. Creative was customized to specific psychographic segments, from fitness enthusiasts to clean-eating foodies. Messaging flexed across:
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Keto, paleo, and gluten-free callouts
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Approachable, wellness-centric taglines
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Location-specific nods to FitVine’s core audiences (from gyms to grocery runs)
Video Advertising & Category Education
One of FitVine’s key differentiators—lower sugar content—became our biggest storytelling opportunity. Video spots exposed the wine industry’s not-so-sweet secrets (like sugar and additives), positioning FitVine as the clean alternative. We made sugar the new four-letter word, using humor and candor to drive home the product’s functional edge.
3. Influencer Campaigns & Cultural Partnerships
To grow brand awareness beyond typical wine audiences, we developed a two-pronged partnership strategy:
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Health & wellness influencers like Jillian Michaels helped reinforce the core audience of fitness-first consumers
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Unexpected partners like comedian Bert Kreischer and UFC star Sean O’Malley unlocked new audiences—reaching men, sports fans, and cultural subgroups rarely spoken to by wine brands
Even Major League Baseball partnerships gave FitVine credibility with a whole new kind of wine drinker. The result? Earned media from outlets like PopSugar and Men’s Health, and strong engagement from previously untapped segments.
4. Precision Targeting Using First- and Third-Party Data
Leveraging FitVine’s DTC audience insights and third-party data, we developed 15 micro-segments based on lifestyle, dietary preferences, and consumption occasions. Each segment received tailored creative, ensuring the brand remained visually cohesive but message-specific.
Every asset—from static ads to social video—was delivered to the right audience at the right time of day with messaging customized to their interests, from fitness to food to fun.
5. Retail and eComm Enablement That Converts
We extended campaign consistency from brand awareness to shelf-level action. Print tools and digital sell sheets reinforced the brand’s core differentiators—low sugar, low carb, clean crafted—at point of purchase, driving trial and sell-through.
FitVine’s retail tools weren’t just pretty—they worked. New placements expanded nationwide, fueled by a sales toolkit rooted in the same insights as our campaign creative.
6. Community Engagement During COVID-19
During the pandemic, we didn’t go dark. Instead, FitVine leaned in with live-streamed workouts, cooking classes, and lifestyle content that brought wine into the homes (and routines) of quarantined consumers. Branded content was shared across social, email, and blog—creating high-value touchpoints and maintaining emotional relevance during a tough time.
Results: Rapid Growth, National Expansion, and Category Recognition
In just 3 months, the “Live Your Fit” campaign delivered:
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5% increase in brand lift
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20% increase in ad recall
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10x alignment with key attributes like “low sugar” and “low calorie” when compared to hard seltzer leaders like White Claw and Truly
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Over 400 branded assets deployed across 15 consumer segments
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Listed as one of Nielsen’s Top 25 Fastest Growing Brands in the U.S.
