NXG PR OFILE
Being physically closer to Berry Bros also
helped him appreciate its uniqueness and the respect it garnered, so he applied for a Saturday job on the shop floor, eventually progressing to the cellars. Following his aforementioned hiatus away
from the business, he returned in 2008 to assist the Hong Kong managing director. “The timing was impeccable as the next
day they took the tax off wine in Hong Kong and suddenly it became the most important wine hub in Asia. I was in Hong Kong for four years,” he says. Willis returned to London in 2012, and
leapt into leading a major rebrand, a job which required stylishly maintaining the prestige of the double royal-warrant holding business, while making it accessible via channels like Instagram to younger up-and- coming wine enthusiasts and those unfamiliar with the sector. Despite the tradition and history
synonymous with the wine trade, Willis says innovation is one of the key values that drives the company—which turned over £170 million ($230 million) in 2016.
“I know from Simon that a lot of the
innovation was born of the family. Simon was very involved in spearheading the website in 1994—pre-Google and Amazon as he reminds me on a constant basis,” Willis says. “I think part of any business is the
creative side behind it. As a child I always assumed that if I was going to work for Berry Bros, I would have to be a wine expert. Inevitably, you do learn a lot about wine through osmosis. But if someone had sat me down age 16 and said you could be an accountant, a PR director, an architect, a designer, or a chef, and all of those would be relevant within Berry Bros, I wouldn’t have believed them.” The families behind Berry Bros have always
made a point of being visible and accessible within the business, and now customers also have a direct link to the family, through the 24,200-follower Instagram account which Willis personally manages. “If you’re a family in any business that
hides in an ivory tower then inevitably you become a stumbling block rather than a part of progress and change.”
Below: The Berry Bros & Rudd cellars span the area of two football fields, housing some of the world’s finest wines
Opposite: The new shop features staves from 100-year-old French wine barrels, which line the ceiling
If you’re a family in any business that hides in an ivory tower then inevitably you become a stumbling block rather than a part of progress and change
ISSUE 72 | 2018
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