1. JOHN HADDAD ON A LIFE BUILDING THE CULTURAL CAPITAL
VICTORIAN-ERA SPLENDOUR IN BALLARAT
MELBOURNE’S DELICIOUS DESIGN DUO GOES GLOBAL
COMMON PURPOSE OF ST MICHAEL’S GRAMMAR
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2. 18 marketing
with 20 years’ experience in
the wine industry and an
impressive resumé that
includes work in the US,
the UK and throughout Australasia, Anna Hill is
eminently qualified to deliver world-class wine
events and marketing services.
She has planted and managed a 50-hectare
vineyard in Heathcote, held sales and marketing
roles at Berry Brothers and Rudd in London, and
managed exports at Domaine Chandon
Australia and events and sponsorship for the
Asia-Pacific division of Moët Hennessy Louis
Vuitton (LVMH).
Since launching Anna Hill Events in 2010,
she has provided two key services to luxury
brands: events and communications. Notable
clients include Cloudy Bay, Cape Mentelle,
Journey Wines, Alquimie magazine, Moorilla at
MONA, JP Morgan, City of Melbourne and global
thought leader and author Yamini Naidu.
Hill’s event management services cater for
the wine industry’s best-known names and luxury
identities, and are presented as finely curated,
bespoke guest experiences.
Hill describes her process as ‘immersive’ and
there’s no doubting the resulting work is highly
detailed, brought to life with style and elegance.
In her communications work, Hill draws
on an extensive network of wine industry
trade and media contacts for product
launches, brand management, public relations
and communications strategy.
Business State caught up with Hill six years to
the day since she started Anna Hill Events.
Business State: Anna, thanks for speaking
with us. How has Anna Hill Events evolved
since you started the business?
Anna Hill: Six years ago, I started my business
from my dining room table. It’s exciting to be
celebrating this business milestone and I’m
thankful to my clients for believing in my vision for
their events and brands. Their continued trust has
allowed me to grow personally and professionally.
After 73 flights, 28 events in five different
countries and countless projects, I am so grateful
to my family and friends for their support.
Today, I am fortunate to have an office in
Prahran and a full-time event producer, Kate
Power, working with me to support my workload.
We are blessed to be able to work in Melbourne
and deliver projects internationally.
A measure of any event’s success isn’t just the
brand immersion and overall guest experience, it’s
also about who is in the room and the comments
they publish afterwards.
Adding communications to my repertoire
was more of a formality, as I found events and
communications were intrinsically linked
and I was already offering this service without
advertising it.
What’s exciting you about the wine business
in Victoria these days?
I’ve seen a greater marketing effort towards
building Victoria’s wine regions. As a result,
the Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsula are
experiencing greater global recognition overseas.
Particularly noticeable is the diversity of
producers making delicious wine so close to
Melbourne. Over the last five years, I’ve been
working with Damian North from Journey Wines
to build all facets of the brand; his Yarra Valley
pinot noir is an excellent example of the new
generation of winemakers making classic styles.
Similar producers such as Timo Mayer, The
Wanderer, Jamsheed and Mac Forbes provide
examples of an exciting community approach to
making great wines.
Tell us about your work with Cloudy Bay.
What’s involved in bringing that high-end
wine brand to life?
I have worked extensively with Cloudy Bay over the
last 18 months to deliver seven major projects, two
at the winery in New Zealand, three in Australia
and two in the UK. Each event exemplified the
luxury brand experience in different ways.
First, Cloudy Bay’s 30th anniversary took
a select group of media for a celebration that
reached its apex during a back-vintage wine
tasting, spanning 30 years of Cloudy Bay’s legacy.
Media travelled from the US, the UK, France
business state / issue five
A consummate host
MARIJAIVKOVIC
Anna Hill creates world-class event concepts for luxury brands. On the six-year anniversary of her
company’s creation, she shares stories from her business in the world of fine wine and luxury living.

3. business state / issue five20 marketing
and Australia for the event, which was hosted at
Cloudy Bay’s private residence and catered for by
acclaimed New Zealand chef Ben Bailey.
Second, Forage is an event that has been on
Cloudy Bay’s calendar periodically since 2006.
It’s a large undertaking and involves extensive
logistical work and preparation. It took me more
than seven months to create, prepare and deliver
Forage 2016 for 16 international media guests.
Forage is an epicurean two-day journey
into the heart of Marlborough, an experience
about the wine, the region and its bounty. World-
renowned chef Ben Shewry of Melbourne’s Attica
was engaged to bring the native ingredients of
Marlborough together in a 10-course degustation
dinner. The guests had foraged for these foods
by land, sea and sky. Moments like these not
only rely on the quality of the wines; it is the food
pairings, event styling and the emotion each guest
experiences that is remembered the most.
Third, Cloudy Bay Pinot Salon is an event that
Ian Morden Cloudy Bay’s Estate Director and I
created and produced in Melbourne at artist David
Bromley’s private studio last year.
Pinot Salon is a new forum for the discerning
enjoyment of pinot noir. In an intimate
conversational setting, key wine media and trade
guests are invited to contribute their perspectives
on two carefully selected flights of wines.
Pinot Salon has since been presented in
London and Sydney, with New York and Chicago
scheduled for later this year.
What’s your expert advice for how brands can
engage with customers through events?
Events should be engaging, effortless and genuine
– luxury carries with it true distinctiveness. It is
important to be an original expression, not an
imitation or variation of the same theme.
New concepts are few and far between and
this is what resonates. Guests would prefer to
attend an event they’ve not seen before. You have
to constantly create, recreate and adapt to capture
attention while maintaining the brand vision.
If you are going to invest in a concept, do it
properly. Realise your project to its full potential
and visualise the long-term, globally.
A great event can be long-lived by the
coverage that comes from it. Forage 2016 has
generated 29 printed pages since the February
event, including six pages in Belle, eight pages
in American Way, two pages in British GQ, four
pages in NILE (Japan), one page in Revue du Vin
en France (China Edition), six pages in Gourmet
Traveller WINE and two pages in Gourmet Traveller,
as well as receiving homepage placement on
Broadsheet Melbourne.
What are the secrets to hosting a world-
class event?
The execution of an event is all encompassing.
It begins with thoughtful design of the invitation,
personal touch points such as sending a
handwritten note prior to the event, the itinerary
guests will experience and ensuring there is down-
time for media to relax and write while on location.
There’s also the all-important presentation,
styling, and food and wine matching of the various
lunch and dinner settings throughout the event.
Details are everything. Being seamless
with timings, as well as the organisation of the
finest cutlery, crockery, glassware and napkins is
imperative. Brief the chef and hospitality teams at
least two days before the event and provide efficient
run sheets. Print menus, handwrite place cards in
advance and ensure you have a good seating plan.
Spend time visualising the styling of the room
and the table setting. How does it look? How does
it feel? Is it a modern, classic or sophisticated
luxury you would like to emulate? What sort of
flowers will be in season that will complement
your setting?
Invite guests from a diverse range of
backgrounds and industries, so that the
conversation is stimulating and the event is
enjoyable on all levels.
Know your guests’ names, how they like to
be addressed and have a copy of all guest dietary
requirements, so the chef can prepare ahead of
the event.
Be impressive. Always start with champagne
and lively music – it sets the tone for a grand
occasion.
If guests have travelled internationally
to attend, I like to ensure that when they
arrive there is enough time to check into their
accommodation and freshen up before dinner
or, if they’ve forgotten to pack certain items, we
provide them with the appropriate amenities or
garments to wear.
Welcome gifts and an extra copy of the guest
itinerary in each room are always extremely well
received. All of these details ensure guests are well
cared for, above all else.
So, we’re planning a dinner party – what’s
your best tip for wine types and/or brands
that are on-trend and will impress our guests?
Victorian, preferably.
It depends on how open-minded your guests
are. For the more creative friends, I look towards
a wine from Patrick Sullivan in Gippsland or
Bobar Wines in Yarra Valley. These are ‘natural
wines’, meaning they’re low in additives, with
an emphasis on fruity juiciness, designed for
early drinking.
For the more conservative guests, I’d suggest
Yarra Valley favourites, such as an impressive
vintage sparkling from Domaine Chandon and a
complex chardonnay from Mount Mary.
Select the wines well in advance and match
them to each course you are serving. I choose
wines that transport my guests to another time
and place.
Any final words to impart?
Always be warm and generous. As a host, it is
your role to welcome and introduce guests to
each other with considerable style and grace.
Your guests will always remember how you
make them feel.
WHAT I LOVE
ABOUT VICTORIA
ANNA HILL
“I grew up on the land in central
Victoria and my mother would
regularly take us to Melbourne
for an education. She loves the
finer things in life: art, music,
wine, food, fashion and culture,
and purposely taught us
refinement, traditions and how
to stylishly entertain. As a result,
I live in and love Melbourne,
and travel often to stimulate my
creativity. To me, Melbourne has
personality, style and class.
“It is a blend of old and new:
it is very traditional in some
senses, yet we have some of the
most forward-thinking business-
people and entrepreneurs in the
world, right here. It is young,
alive and has a contagious
energy, which I adore.”
JONBRADLEY
JAMESMORGAN
JAMESMORGAN
KIERANSCOTT