SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING - CONTRAST IN THE LUXURY WINE INDUSTRY
Having an active social media marketing can be questionable for a luxury wine brand as well as for any high luxury brands. Do we need to be present on social media as an exclusive and niche brand, do our consumers want us to be mainstream or should we rather preserve exclusivity, privacy and rarity? Is a digital strategy relevant regarding our positioning?
For some luxury wine brands, having a presence on social media does not seem to worth. They do not have a clear direction in their digital strategy or even, do not have the willing to be present on social media at all. Is it wrong or is it right? Apparently, that is an effective and profitable strategy for some brands.
CHATEAU LA FLEUR-PÉTRUS, POMEROL
It is the case of one the finest wine brand in the world, maybe the finest one and one of the most expensive: Chateau La Fleur-Pétrus, Bordeaux wine from the Pomerol Appellation. The vineyard estate of Chateau La Fleur-Pétrus belongs to the Etablissements Jean-Pierre Moueix since 1953. Located in the heart of the prestigious Plateau Pomerol in France, the vineyard encompasses over a total of 14,5 hectares and produces around 45 000 bottles per year. It is composed of 80% of merlot and 20% of cabernet franc.
Chateau La Fleur-Petrus presence on social media is almost inexistent. It does not have any official Facebook account, Instagram account and even less a Snapchat account. Only a few unofficial pictures of the Château, of the vineyard or of the bottles are present. It is the same thing for Twitter where we can find a few tweets of amateurs who has tasted the wine or of tourists who has visited the Château. The only “digital presence” of the winery is the official website of the owner, Mr. Moueix, where we can read a few information about the company, the wine merchant activity, the vineyards and the exclusive vintages bottles!
This “social media non-presence” can be explained by several facts.
First of all, an exclusive and niche brand, producing expensive and rare bottles, such as Chateau La Fleur-Petrus, addresses its products to a niche market. A bottle of Pétrus, Pomerol from 1998 is sold 3800€ at the vineyard estate. There are not many customers, and communicate on mainstream social medias such as Facebook or Instagram can be antithetic.
The client of a high luxury brand does not want to see the product that he has within everyone’s reach. This premium client wants exclusivity, rarity, confidentiality as well as authenticity, excellence and craftsmanship. High luxury brands, also called brands of “savoir-faire” such as Chateau La Fleur-Pétrus regarding wine, Brunello Cucinelli for exclusive ready-to-wear or A. Lange & Söhne regarding fine watchmaking are all examples of discretion on social medias but of success in business.
Finally, the finest quality wine brand targets mostly connoisseurs, amateurs and people who have a very strong purchasing power — mostly adults above 30/40 years old — whose main means of communication and interaction are not mainstream tools such as social media. They would rather attend a wine tasting with a Sommelier in a prestigious vineyard estate in Bordeaux, France for instance.
ARMAND DE BRIGNAC, CHAMPAGNE
On the other hand, some luxury brands of the wine industry have jump on the bandwagon of the social media era.
This is the choice of the Cattier family, winemakers since 1763, producing the well-known Armand de Brignac Champagne in the tiny village of Chigny-les-Roses, France. Armand de Brignac is produced in three distinct cuvées - Brut Gold, Rosé, Blanc de Blancs - whose 750ml bottles are sold around $300.
A success story
Fast-forward to 2006, year of its launch, Armand de Brignac Champagne could not have imagined what happened next.
Nicknamed the “Ace of Shades” due to the blazon decorating them and conceived by the fashion futurist designer André Courrèges, Armand de Brignac’s extravagant and metallic golden bottles have everything the “bling bling” persons could dream of!
In 2010, and also for 2016, Armand de Brignac has been named number one champagne in the world by Fine Magazine, after a blind tasting which included Cristal, Krug and Dom Perignon.
At the same time, Cristal de Roederer Champagne, mainly used during video clips by rappers, communicated about the fact that they did not want to be associated to that “bling bling” image anymore. It provoked the angry of the rapper Jay-Z who called for a boycott of the brand. He then waved a bottle of his now favorite champagne: Armand De Brignac. The brand could not have dreamed of a better ‘publicity stunt”. That went all over the American show business and contributed to a stunning increase in sales.
Following the request and the enthusiasm, Armand de Brignac has revolutionized the world of luxury large-format Champagne format by creating, besides the standard size bottles, a range of Magnums (1.5L), Jeroboams (3L), Methuselahs (6L), Nebuchadnezzars (15L) and the unparalleled Midas (30L). One of this insane bottle has been sold $215 000.
In 2014, Jay-Z made the acquisition of the American company, Sovereign Brands, owner of the monopoly on distribution of the exclusive champagne brand, Armand de Brignac. The Cattier’s family remains owner of the cuvees. The Champagne is mainly sold in the United States but also in France on the Côte d’Azur, in Courchevel and in Paris.
The brand’s marketing and communication
The brand’s notoriety is not only due to Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s worldwide celebrity and aura on social network, and of course to its stunning Champagne, but also to the brand’s active presence on social media.
The official Facebook page counts 54 249 likes, the Instagram account has 103K followers and the Twitter one has 10.6K followers. The brand regularly publishes packshots of the bottles and their luxury boxes or staging pictures of a glass of #ArmandDeBrignac.
The brand also has a LinkedIn account with a few subscribers, so they could do better by sharing more about their expertise and cuvées for instance. The luxury sparkling wine also has its own blog on its website, where the brand posts pictures and releases about special events (special pop-up event, sparkling dinner soirée, …) where the Champagne is served.
By doing that, Armand de Brignac shares experiences, promotes its brand and its image, and makes it truly desirable, prestigious and definitely exclusive. The sparkling wine brand communicates and interacts with its client and attracts prospects and proves that having an active social media marketing strategy is undeniably profitable.
Ps: the Cattier house, owns an another emblematic, even rarer Champagne, named Clos du Moulin, Brut Premier Cru. It is a good thing that the brand does not communicate too much about it, because if Jay-Z knew, he could buy the few thousands unique bottles and would not give us a chance to taste it.
This post was created as part of the Global Luxury Management Program at the NC State Poole School of Management. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
