Dan Murphy's turns 70 this year

Given they're one of Australia's leading bottle shops it's appropriate that Dan Murphy's celebrate their 70th anniversary in 2022, just like Queen Elizabeth who is celebrating her Platinum jubilee this year. Who would have thought that Dan and Liz had something in common?

To reboot the Dan Murphy's brand and reposition it the marketplace the company decided that  it was time to return Mr Murphy, as he was known in the company before his death in 2001, to his brand. As the Managing Director of Dan Murphy's said:

'WIth it being the 70th anniversary and the fact that young shoppers don't know him as a person, 

it was a great time to talk about him and what he did and how that's as relevant for us today as it

was when he set up the business in 1952.'

Capture your corproate story

As a business historian I am often speaking with companies about how they can bring their  corproate history to life, how it can be captured, preserved and reanimated to connect the past with the present and project underlying values to the future.

There's a myraid of ways you can do this. Through a series of interviews with your founder and key people (former and current) in the business, audio, video, books, interactive timelines or a combination of all of these.

A well researched and presented corporate story can create connections across your business and across time, connecting the past with the present and the future; connecting employees, customers, suppliers and shareholders. 

Dan Murphy's story

Dan was born in 1918. He studied accounting at Melbourne University, then trained to be a priest. He also worked in the Penfolds wine office. He joined the RAAF and served in France in World War II. On his returned he worked with his father, but then went out on his own and soon founded an underground wine club in Melbourne. He was one of the first people in Australia to import international wines.

He was famous for his personalised service and taking the time to understand the customer's budget, the occassion and food pariing. In the current, highly competitive and increasing online world translating these values and behavours is challenging but as the company's Managing Director says, 'I love the  fact that we're celebrating Daniel Francis Murphy himself because the key to the mahgic of the brand is exactly what he laid down, it's just that we need to reinterpret it for the digital economy.' Here's a link to one of the advertisements currently running.

Interestingly, Dan published his own books, had his own magazine for his members and a column in The Age. In other words he was into content marketing 1950s/60s style to help educate customers before they came into the store. Very smart.

Bringing Dan's story to life

The current campaign focusing on the 70th anniversary of the business, and the founders story in particular is a terrific example of how a company can bring it's history to life. Combined with the television advertising, the company has rebooted the story on it's website.

So, the next time you're in Dan Murphy's perhaps buy a bottle of champagne and have a toast to Dan and, if you're so inclined Queen Elizabeth as well.