Champagne Lanson has established itself as one of the premier champagne brands in the UK on-trade. This summer the brand ran a new marketing campaign, called "Why Not?", which was aimed at encouraging drinkers to consume the brand on more informal occasions. It has closely associated itself with several big sporting events, including Wimbledon, and was the official champagne supplier to the Tour de France.
There seems to be a real increase in the popularity and sales of champagne right now. Is that a fair comment?
Yes, without a doubt. There is a real uplift in sales, awareness and visibility.
What has led to this?
Basically it is a result of better availability and choice and that has simply led to more consumers requesting champagne. For pubs particularly I think the explosion of great quality food has helped. Plus general knowledge of drinks has increased, but this is in part down to the efforts of the multiple grocers.
Are customers actively choosing champagne brands or are they simply going for something sparkling and therefore not interested in buying into the heritage and cachet of champagne?
I think brands are driving the way forward in almost all markets. Consumers feel more closely associated with brands and people want the emotional association that brands give them. We all tend to buy by emotion first and justify the purchase with logic later.
How important is the theatre of serve to Champagne Lanson? Is the value all in the bottle or is it about the whole experience, including having the right glassware, branded ice buckets and well-chilled product?
Theatre is essential. But I also think there is a lot to be said about the point of purchase and pattern of purchase. Brand owners have to get behind these issues and help retailers. For example, our message at Lanson is all about freshness. There is no malolactic fermentation [a process used in wine-making to convert tart malic acid into softer-tasting lactic acid] in the making of Lanson and this is a difficult message for us to convey! So instead we talk about freshness. And this can be seen in our ŒWhy Not?¹ campaign.
How do you think you can sell the champagne experience to regular pub-goers?
It is all about getting people to taste the product. There is not a huge amount of sparkling wine in distribution in pubs. We need to reduce the entry barrier to this market by introducing things such as half and quarter bottles. And I think we need to try and push things such as food and champagne matching.
Are you not concerned that if sales continue to rise in pubs and more people come into contact with your brand, you will lose that elite premium image you have worked so hard to cultivate?
I¹m not sure about that really. If you are selling people more half bottles then you are selling less volume anyway. I am not sure that is a major issue for the industry. Champagne producers are constantly looking at their figures and I think they manage their volume expectations pretty well.