Courvoisier is one of many brands whose makers are claiming to be demystifying the cognac category and making it more accessible for drinkers in pubs. So what are the reasons for releasing a new super-premium Courvoisier variant this week, with a price tag of £1,800 a bottle?
Look at a lot of Courvoisier's initiatives in a busy 2009, and most licensees would be confused at the apparent contradictions between distributor Maxxium's highfalutin' schemes and its stated aims of simplifying this spirit category.
All the recent initiatives have been concerned with broadening cognac's appeal, answers brand manager Barbara Annis. This means both upwards, towards the £1,800-a-bottle-type drinkers and down to pubs where brandy consumers are rarely more ambitious than ordering whatever the pub stocks served with cola.
Maxxium's training for pubs in how to use - and make more profit from - cognac is set to step up thanks to the appointment of a brand ambassador last month. Rébecca Asseline's role will be educating the trade on how to promote and sell cognac. Training is available by contacting Maxxium.
Annis says that the Courvoisier initiative most suited to driving sales in the conventional pub trade is the brand's loyalty campaign.
The scheme has been running for two years. Six thousand pubs are members and collect corks from the bottles of Courvoisier they sell to redeem for prizes ranging from Optics and T-shirts to a Nintendo Wii computer games console. Over the past two years, £230,000-worth of prizes have been handed out.
Annis says: "There's a task to be done with cognac. Your general pub consumer will ask for a brandy and Coke, so it's difficult to trade them up."
In most cases, she would advise pubs to stock just one cognac - generally a VS, the most basic variety. She adds: "To help pubs in more effectively selling cognac, training is important, and getting a brand ambassador was crucial. We will be able to train in using the entire range, through to VS." n
Courvoisier in 2009
March: Announces £12m raft of activity for 2009, including barstaff training programme
May: Begins tour of the country's on-trade with innovative sampling activity. Drinkers are invited to sniff perfumes that recreate the aromas of cognac and there's musical accompaniment from a composer who "interprets scent through music"
June: New recruits accepted onto networking club Courvoisier The Future 500. This select group, comprising mainly top bartenders, can pitch for grants and have the right to use Courvoisier's central London exhibition space for their events
August: Appoints brand ambassador Rébecca Asseline to work on training the on-trade in cognac. Forty-seven bars offer a Courvoisier cocktail designed to appeal to consumers who haven't made up their mind on what to order when they approach the bar. Accompanying advertising stresses cognac as a spirit for mixed drinks
September: Launches new super-premium variant, L'Essence de Courvoisier