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Valour-Added Promotions
“standfirst”>It takes courage to sacrifice volume to strengthen the value of your brand, but Mumm Champagne is made of the right stuff, says Penny Boothman
Ii may be the traditional drink for celebrations, but the house of Mumm has always taken the reason to celebrate just that one step further – like the time Walter Mumm won fourth place in the bob-sleigh race at the 1932 winter olympics. Founded in 1827, Mumm took on the GH, and the daredevil spirit, from Georges Herman Mumm in the 1870s, and the company has been rewarding extraordinary achievements ever since.
“We found a photograph of Captain Charcot (a sort of French Ernest Shackleton) sitting on an iceberg in the Antarctic on Bastille Day in 1904, relaxing with a cigar and a bottle of Champagne Mumm,” says Anna Adsetts, senior brand manager at Allied Domecq Wine UK. “It just really sums up for us what the early days of Mumm were all about. It wasn’t so much about supporting the royal courts but much more about these individual achievers, explorers and adventurers who went off to do extraordinary things.” And now the spirit of adventure is returning to Mumm’s marketing strategy.
“We’ve been working with Ellen MacArthur so that when she arrived at the end of her round the world solo sailing expedition she was celebrating with Champagne Mumm,” says Adsetts. “It’s these achievements that we want to celebrate and work with today just as Georges Mumm celebrated with Captain Charcot in 1904.".
Last month Mumm hosted a dinner party suspended beneath a hot-air balloon at 25,000 feet for explorers Bear Grylls, David Hempleman Adams and Lieutenant Commander Al Veal (RN), in an attempt to claim the record for the world’s highest formal dinner. The funny thing is that even an event this unusual doesn’t really seem all that out of place in Mumm’s PR strategy.
This focus on sponsorship represents a departure for Mumm, where promotional activity over recent years has been based more on building volume through price promotion. “We are certainly moving away from that sort of deal,” explains Adsetts. “Mumm has been involved in sailing for a good 30 years. I think it’s more about consolidating the activity that we have and highlighting the link with our heritage showing the credibility of the brand. It’s not just a flashy new marketing campaign that we’ve dreamed up; it’s part of what we’ve been doing for 200 years.
“We took some big decisions and made a significant cut in terms of volume. It was an intentional decision about really drawing back the reins and making sure that Mumm is on sale in the places that we really feel it’s best to be on sale, the places that actually bring value to our Champagne. It’s about drawing back in that volume and re-focusing on the outlets, and, particularly seeing the growth in the on-trade market, that’s something we’re really keen to develop.”
Adsetts is hoping to generate a 50/50 on/off-trade split later this year, aiming to capitalise on growth in the sparkling wine market as Champagne breaks out of the birthdays and anniversaries category.
This redirection includes the launch of a new cuvée, while the whole range is being revamped to enhance the family characteristics. “The red sash that appears on the Cordon Rouge bottle represents the Legion d’Honneur,” she says. “Georges decided to use it to decorate the bottle, and part of what we’re doing is passing that honour on to the people we award the Champagne to as they come in from their various extraordinary achievements. Because the red sash is really at the heart of Champagne Mumm, we’ve decided to make sure it appears on all our cuvées, and on the new Grand Cru.” (See New Products, page 34, for details of the new release.)
Mumm has also developed a new branded bar that it will be taking to Ascot and Sandown racecourses this summer, and the company will be working with Innocent Smoothies at its Fruitstock event. “We’ll be taking a lot of small opportunities to get back to the consumer in a face to face approach, letting them actually come and taste the Champagne again and interact with the brand,” says
Adsetts. It takes a brave brand to make the decision to rein in its price cutting, and drop sales volume in the process, but if there was ever proof that the courageous spirit is alive and well in Mumm Champagne, then here it is.