BRANDING — A KEY ADVANTAGE FOR DISTINGUISHING THE IDENTITY OF BULGARIAN WINE AMONG THE COMPETITIVE WORLD WINE MARKET

The relevance of this article is associated with the growing importance of branding, which creates opportunities for promotion of identity, which in turn will provide differentiation and effective positioning of Bulgarian wine in the minds of target customers. The absence of a noticeably distinct competitive identity hinders the development of a distinguishable and recognizable image of the products in consumer consciousness. The aim of the paper is to reveal the opportunities and prospects offered by the national branding in order to distinguish the identity of Bulgarian wine among the competitive world wine market and to achieve higher market results. World and Bulgarian trends in the supply and consumption of wine are reviewed and conclusions are made about the need to implement a marketing strategy for wine with the participation of the state to obtain higher market results. The necessity of unification in the branch for gaining competitive advantages on the world wine market is analyzed. The results show that branding is a key aspect in the wine industry, which leads to high recognition and value of brands, which will allow Bulgarian wines to be more sought after and sold at a higher price than other identical products on the wine market.