Champagne Lanson embarks on ‘reconquest’ with new slogan

Champagne Lanson has unveiled a new slogan and advertising campaign as the brand embarks on a ‘reconquest’ to mark 260 years since its foundation in 1760.

Lanson’s new advertising campaign and slogan, launched this year as part of a five-year plan for the house which has been dubbed internally as ‘the reconquest’

Launching this month is the Champagne house’s new branding and advertising using the strapling ‘It’s all about love’, which features a bottle of Lanson cradled in the hands of its winemaker: Hervé Dantan (see picture, above).

The campaign will be used worldwide, with Maison Lanson promising to use a range of hands holding the Champagne in future executions, from winegrowers to ‘great chefs’ and ‘men and women who help bring Lanson Champagnes to life all over the world’.

The slogan replaces ‘The perfect start since 1760’, and the new message and imagery comes as part of a wider refresh for the house following the appointment of a new president in January last year – François Van Aal, who has held roles in advertising and luxury goods marketing, and most recently, a series of senior positions at Rémy-Cointreau, where he has worked for 23 years.

The house has also recruited a new marketing and communication director, Guillaume Truchot, who joined Lanson in May last year from Sarment Group in Singapore, where he was head of strategy and digital transformation, with former roles at Moët Hennessy, Laurent-Perrier and Rémy Cointreau.

Speaking to db in Champagne last month, Truchot said that the new marketing push for Lanson was part of a five-year plan for the brand, which he dubbed ‘the reconquest’.

“It’s part of a broader idea of where we come from, where we are going, and what we will do with the brand… but as it’s 260 years old, we are not going to change things overnight,” he said.

Nevertheless, he admitted that during a close look at the house over the last six months, it became apparent that Lanson “needed some improvements and clarifications, so we have produced a masterplan, which covers production and marketing and communication.”

Such analysis has led the house to identify a set of core values, which it has listed as “openness, kindness, humility, authenticity and elegance – and above all else, the quality of its wines.”

As for the new slogan, ‘It’s all about love’ has been chosen to signify Lanson’s “Love for the soil, for the terroir, of a job well done, a sustainable love, a love of sharing, of being together, of making people happy.’

Meanwhile, Truchot said of the advertising imagery with the cradled bottle, “It is a different way of presenting a bottle of Champagne, because normally you see people sharing glasses, but here, the hero is the bottle, and the idea is that a lot of care goes into creating this bottle; it is Hervé’s hands.”

Continuing he said, “It is a very emotional message; other houses have messages that are very product based, but we like to show that we are caring, and if you choose a bottle of Lanson, it is to show the love you have for those you are sharing it with.”

Concluding, he said, “We wanted to create a connection with consumers.”

Lanson’s previous campaign

As for the changes to Lanson production, as opposed to marketing, Truchot told db that the team has been “working on the range too”, which has now been rationalised, brining the number of Champagnes down from 15 to 10, meaning that “some products will disappear over the coming months.”

Being sacrificed to streamline the range will be the Lanson Extra Age set of multi-vintage cuvées, as well as the Noble Cuvée Rosé, while the Lanson Ivory Label will be “merged” with the demi-sec White Label.

Two new cuvées will be added, with the maison’s first ever non-vintage blanc de blancs being unveiled this year, as well as a ‘Black Label Reserve’, the latter seeing an extended period ageing in contact with its lees, and coming in place of the Lanson Père & Fils, which was launched in 2015 specifically for restaurants.

Finally, the house has tweaked the look of the labels, with a new appearance coming to the market in one year’s time. As part of this the Royal Warrant will be “more visible”, and located “in the middle of the bottle, when before it was on the neck”, according to Truchot.

“There will also be a big change on the Lanson Vintage Champagnes, with the year much more prominently stated on the label, because we believe that if the consumer wants to enter the vintage category, it is through the year, and we tend to offer older vintages,” he said.

Finally, the mainstay of the range, the Lanson Black Label Brut NV, will get a “more premium look”, with, for example, “a lighter gold foil”.

In short, Truchot said, “So we have two big changes this year: a new range, including two new products, and a new communication and advertising campaign.”

Consumers can expect to see the new products and fresh marketing from June this year.