This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
News
Bubble Wrap
“standfirst”>Champagne’s image cannot afford to be anything less than glitzy. They’ll be covering bottles with crystals next, says Penny Boothman … or wearing orange wellies WRAP
Beauty is only skin deep, or so they say. But the multibillion dollar international cosmetics industry would seem to indicate that aesthetics matter a great deal to most people, and the aesthetics of what we buy and drink are no different. For the rich, the famous, the glamorous, and even those just having a knees-up, Champagne is the drink to be seen drinking, but how does Champagne want to be seen?
Surveying the Champagne section in any smart department store, or indeed any local off-licence, the range of gift packs, add-ons, embellishments, bells, ribbons and bows on display is mind-boggling. But why? Champagne, as the original fizz, has one of the strongest USPs of any product in the world, so why the huge concern with appearances? Up until quite recently this one fizzy drink had the celebratory beverage market cornered – and even now most other sparkling wines take their packaging cues from Champagne. But nowadays Champagne has moved beyond the celebration niche to become a wine for all occasions and a popular gift as well.
But what is it that says “Champagne”? An image of class, sophistication, elegance? Or flashy, eyecatching glitz? It doesn’t all have to be bling in the Champagne sector, but there are some things that fizz would just not be fizzing without.
“As a luxury product, packaging is very important for Champagne,” says Anna Freedman, Moët & Chandon brand manager, MHUK. “The packaging has to convey the premium and celebratory cues of the product, hence the decision by almost every Champagne producer to finish their bottles with a gold foil.” There does seem to be some sort of unwritten agreement between many Champagne houses as to the way the products should look – green glass, gold foil, white label – to present a unified front that screams “Champagne” from 20 paces.
In some cases packaging is purely about creating and maintaining the image of the brand. Société Jacques Bollinger has recently taken on Champagne Ayala and the first thing it did was make an investment in the look, and thus the image of the brand. “Recent packaging changes at Ayala clearly indicate the importance of packaging – and branding – to the marketing of Ayala,” says Jon Stevens, Champagne and New World brands controller, Mentzendorff. “These new packaging enhancements are intended to freshen and modernise, while, through the use of the original ‘Ayala’ font, demonstrating the heritage that Champagne Ayala enjoys. This re-packaging is clean and contemporary, and clearly differentiates Ayala from its competitive set,” Stevens explains.
Ultra-modern statement
Champagne is different from the table wine sector as there are several elements of the packaging that are necessary from a purely practical point of view, such as the heavy bottle, cork, muzzle and foil. This means that any packaging that makes a statement really stands out as a point of difference. Nicolas Feuillatte’s ultramodern bright pink and blue quarter-size bottles are some of the newest additions to the shelf and are already making a splash in the on-trade. “From the start, innovative packaging has always been crucial to the marketing of Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte. Less than 30 years old, the brand dares to be different and launches a new collection of packaging every year, and not just for Christmas,” says Dominique Lahure, UK sales manager, Nicolas Feuillatte.
At the other end of the scale Perrier-Jouët’s anemone-clad Belle Epoque bottle, which has been used since the 1960s evokes images of Art Nouveau decadance, the golden age of Champagne. This is packaging with great standout and instant appeal that hasn’t changed for decades. Another brand that relies on the strength of its heritage is Champagne Mumm, which has recently updated its packaging so that the signature red sash of the Legion d’Honneur now appears throughout the range, and the company is also introducing a new range of gift boxes. With as much as a third of Champagne being bought to be given as gifts, the importance of having a gift box should not be underestimated. “I went into my local supermarket only yesterday and met this lady who bought a bottle of vintage Champagne and clearly didn’t want to buy an expensive bottle but it was the only Champagne in a gift box. It was for a gift and she felt it had to come in a gift box,” says Vincent Gillet, country manager, Champagnes Mumm & Perrier Jouët. “Sometimes decisions can be driven by those kind of very simple criteria. I need a box, it needs to look pretty, it’s a gift. It is important.”
Moët takes full advantage of the gift sector and ties it in with the seasonal element as well. “We use gift boxes at key selling periods such as Easter and Christmas to enhance display, influence consumer choice and add value to the purchase,” says Moët & Chandon’s Anna Freedman. “Moët releases a new range of gift boxes each Christmas to refresh the offer. As the most prestigious end of our range, Moët Vintage is gift-boxed throughout the entire year.”
If you are using a gift box to encourage purchases then you may as well make full use of it, and much packaging is now being used as a billboard to highlight other marketing activity and associations of the brand. After all, if you’re going to invest in marketing activity you may as well get your money’s worth. “Increasingly, brands are choosing to use packaging to further communicate their above the line sponsorships,” says Freedman, “just as Moët & Chandon has done with the limited edition Moët Rosé giftbox, designed by British fashion designer Matthew Williamson. To add extra value, the box also contains a mini- DVD of the catwalk show and Matthew’s rise to fashion fame.”
But Moët is taking the whole gift box/ packaging experience one step further again by decorating the bottle itself.
“Christmas is the key selling period for Champagne and, consequently, almost every brand will display a gift box of some description in the offtrade. At the end of 2004, and now again in 2005, as market leader, Moët has sought to add extra value to both trade and consumer experience with the launch of the limited edition Moët & Chandon Crystallized range. Breaking the tradition of the gift box, these bottles and magnums of Moët & Chandon Brut Imperial and Moët & Chandon Rosé are encrusted with Swarovski crystals, reflecting the fabulous bubbles contained within each bottle,” says Freedman.
But what is the consumer buying, the Champagne or the Swarovski-encrusted bottle? It’s a bit like the famous Chianti fiaschi of the 1970s, but on an altogether different price scale.
It seems that even having a gift box may no longer be enough, and Veuve Clicquot is also pushing the envelope ever further. Orange wellies, anyone? “We have a number of innovations which differentiate the brand,” says Genavieve Alexander. “The ice jacket in magnum and 75cl, the paint tin and the Clicquot Traveller, for example.” Veuve has a big point of difference in the packaging sector – since basically anything that’s bright orange automatically hangs with the brand.
But aesthetics are a serious business in the wine sector, and you can’t hit the bull’seye if you’re not aiming at the target. Allied Domecq Wines UK has conducted consumer research showning that the first three criteria people use in their decision-making process are: brand, price and then packaging. But, of course, this varies depending on the consumer, and Gillet points out that packaging will be more relevant to some consumers than others. A more knowledgable wine consumer will be more interested in what’s inside the bottle, naturally, and packaging will be a little less relevant than to a consumer who has less wine knowledge.
“If you’re a brand aficionado you’re looking for brand cues, so if you buy Belle Epoque you want it to stand out and look different. If you’re a wine connoisseur you want to know what the disgorgement date was and what this wine will go with at a dinner party. If you’re a brand loyal, that’s when you might look for a promotion,” says Gillet.
Meanwhile, Mumm is launching an Ellen MacArthur promotion on a special gift box, combining packaging with its sponsorship activity. “People have seen Ellen with a jeroboam of Mumm and now they’re getting the chance to go on her boat and meet her,” explains Gillet.
With gifting in mind, making the bottle as attractive as possible can really drive sales. I suppose when you’re persuading people to part with upwards of £25 a bottle (and often much more) it’s a good idea to give the consumer the impression that they’re getting a lot for their money. Using packaging in this way gives the consumer a reason to trade up.
Labelled with love
“You can add value in a number of ways,” explains Gillet. “One of which is to differentiate your different cuvées; it’s obviously important that your vintage and prestige cuvées look different enough from your non-vintage. Another way is through having innovative back labels, because back labels can be so boring and really unhelpful, and one of the things we’ve done is recommend meals on our back labels, like try the Mumm Grand Cru with lamb or foie gras or whatever.”
It seems that Champagne houses are in an enviable position. They have a range of cuvées to play with, which gives them the freedom to experiment with various different styles of packaging, and they have gift boxes to produce each year (or more) to give them an annual push for marketing. And to facilitate all this, the way the Grandes Marques have been structured for the last 100 years or so means that they all have the marketing budget to invest in their image. Now that has to be worth celebrating.