Top 10 marketing campaigns

 This month’s marketing campaign’s saw the drinks trade channel its cultured side, with opera, fine art and twice Academy Award nominee Jeremy Renner featuring.

Follador toasts Goya exhibition

Prosecco producer Follador lent its support to the launch of Goya: The Portraits at the National Gallery in London, as its official sparkling wine supplier.

Its latest exhibition is dedicated to the portraits of the great engraver and painter Francisco Goya, widely considered the most important Spanish artist of the enlightenment era. Active between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Goya is also famous for his scenes inspired by the dreams and the supernatural world.

Follador has been the official supplier of the National Gallery for several years. “Being close to an art event of such importance is part of the vocation and style that Follador intends to express,” said sales and marketing director Cristina Follador.

Jeremy Renner backs Rémy campaign

Rémy Martin has announced the launch of its new global campaign, ‘One Life/Live Them’, teaming up with twice Academy Award nominee Jeremy Renner.

The campaign aims to highlight and encourage people to explore, embrace and celebrate all of their talents. As an actor, producer, musician and home renovator, Eric Vallat, CEO of Rémy Martin believes Renner “completely embodies the lifestyle that we are celebrating”.

Renner starred in Kathryn Bigelow’s award-winning Hurt Locker, Ben Affleck’s The Town, and Hollywood blockbusters The Bourne Legacy, Mission Impossible and The Avengers.
“To fully realise one’s potential you must take action, remain curious, embrace your failures as they are gifts, and honour your successes with humility,” said Renner on the tie-up.
The campaign launched on 2 November at La Maison Rémy Martin London, the brand’s private members club.

Mouton enlists South Korean artist for 2013 label

South Korean painter Lee Ufan has been unveiled as the artist behind the Château Mouton Rothschild 2013 label; a vintage many in the region would like to forget.

Born in a South Korean mountain village in 1936, Ufan moved to Japan aged 20 in 1956 and studied philosophy at Tokyo’s Nihon University. For the Mouton commission, Ufan depicts a simple square that begins a pinkish purple and deepens in colour from left to right to a rich ruby red.

In a statement from the château, the design is described thus: “The initially indecisive purple of the drawing gradually attains its full richness, just as a great wine is patiently brought to fulfilment in the vat house.”
The 2013 vintage in Bordeaux is widely regarded as one of the worst on recent record, though Mouton is happy with the wine it produced due to “draconian” grape selection.

The art-focused first growth has commissioned a contemporary artist to create a bespoke artwork for its labels every year since 1945. Among the other artists to have created a label for Mouton Rothschild are Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Georges Braque, Juan Miró, Andy Warhol, Francis Bacon, Lucien Freud and Jeff Koons.

Crabbies signs deal with TFI Friday

Crabbie’s Alcoholic Ginger Beer has signed a seven-figure deal to become the official sponsor for the return of Chris Evans’ popular TV show TFI Friday.

The entertainment show ran for four years from 1996 to 2000, attracting a cult following for its irreverant style and controversial antics. TFI Friday returned to Channel 4 for a 90-minute special on Friday 12 June, attracting a peak audience of 4.2 million viewers, beating all its terrestrial competitors. The show also attracted the highest share of viewers aged 16-34 with an impressive 30% share of the young demographic. During its broadcast more than 90,000 tweets referencing the show were sent at an average of 519 tweets-per-minute.

“To be involved with such an iconic show that engages with the great British public and is so closely aligned with the Crabbie’s brand personality, is something we are very excited about”, said Crabbie’s marketing controller Claire Kelly.

The sponsorship will run for the entire ten episode series on Channel 4 from 16 october on Friday nights at 8pm. Halewood International will be supporting the campaign with investment in trade and consumer advertising, digital and social channels.

Highlander hosts Beaune auction

French actor Christopher Lambert is to host the 155th Hospices de Beaune auction in Burgundy.

Every year some famous faces are invited to help host the auction, which is conducted by Anthony Hanson MW of Christie’s. Previous guests have included Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and Gérard Depardieu. This year Lambert, famous for playing the immortal Connor McLeod in the ‘80s classic Highlander, and journalist and novelist Claire Chazal will be on the podium.

Lambert also owns a mineral water business and is co-owner of a vineyard in the Côtes du Rhône. Proceeds from the auction, set to take place on 15 November, will go to various charities and the Hospices itself, which still functions as a hospital.

Martell celebrates 300 years

Martell is continuing its 300th anniversary celebrations with the launch of a new pop-up at Hong Kong International Airport.

The space will be primarily used to promote the brand’s limited edition release of its Martell Cordon Bleu, first made by Edouard Martell, the tenth descendant of the House’s founder, in 1912. Based on its original receipt, cellarmaster Benoît Fil has recreated the expression to mark the brand’s tri-centenary. The pop-up will run from 23 September to 10 November.

Spain makes push on wine pairings.

A new initiative called ‘Eat Spain Drink Spain’ has launched in the UK to show that Spanish wine and food are the “most natural of partners”.

The campaign, created by Foods and Wines from Spain, is being rolled out in five cities across the UK at well-established and highly regarded consumer wine fairs. London, Manchester, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Winchester are the five cities in the launch year. Foods and Wines from Spain will also be working with local on- and off-trade outlets in the five cities to promote Spanish gastronomy. There is a dedicated website, www.eatspaindrinkspain.com, which will continue to expand as more places sign up to the campaign. Radio interviews and a social media drive also form a part of the initiative.

“Spain has so much to offer in terms of food and wine, and our Eat Spain Drink Spain initiative provides the perfect platform to showcase the best of both,” said María José Sevilla, director of Foods and Wines from Spain.

Perrier-Jouët launches design partnership

Perrier-Jouët has announced a new partnership with the world of creation and design: a collaboration with Japanese glass artist Ritsue Mishima that will continue until the end of 2016.

Two of three original creations to be crafted by Mishima will be unveiled in December 2015 at Design Miami, the international fair for collectable design.

The first, “All’ombra della luce”, is a huge glass installation, while the second is a large blown-glass bowl dedicated to the ritual of serving Champagne. A third creation will become a limited-edition gift set, and will be unveiled in 2016.

Snow Leopard forages for cocktails

Snow Leopard vodka launched a foraging-inspired cocktail campaign to support the plight of the endangered snow leopard.

Held on World Snow Leopard Day, the Forage Your Own cocktail campaign saw Amanda Humphrey of Maxxium UK create bespoke serves using foraged ingredients native home of the snow leopard. This included herbs, flowers and spices including chrysanthemum and Himalayan lavender.

Cocktails were showcased at Snow Leopard’s on-trade accounts throughout October, helping the brand towards its ultimate goal of raising $1,000,000 to help remove the snow leopard from the global endangered list.

Penfolds links up with Opera House

Penfolds has used the launch of its 2015 collection to announce a new partnership with London’s Royal Opera House.

The launch of the Australian winery’s 2015 range, held at London’s Somerset House, also marked the global release of a new Penfolds promotional short film, The Story of Grange, narrated by actor Russell Crowe. Penfolds’ full range will be available throughout the Royal Opera House’s bars and restaurants. The company also plans to co-host a series of behind-the-scenes masterclasses at the British opera institution throughout the year.

“We are delighted to be announcing our new collaboration with Penfolds,” said Alex Beard, chief executive of the Royal Opera House. “We have a rich history and heritage, yet we are always striving to innovate and develop our art forms. The work on our stages is renowned for world-class excellence and our backstage skills and crafts show mastery at the very highest levels. These attributes are shared with Penfolds so it seems a perfectly natural fit for us to be working together.”

The Story of Grange is a short film telling the tale of how former chief winemaker Max Schubert created Grange, which since its first experimental release in 1951, has become one of Australia’s most iconic wines.