STRATEGIC CATEGORY 1.2 MARKETING PLANNING – RESOURCES,

RESEARCH & INSIGHT

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Why change your brand strategy when you’re a leading brand in your category?

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When your brand is the number 1 selling cognac in the UK, enjoys a 63% market share (3 times that of nearest competitor), you benefit from a strong core consumer base (2M drinkers) and volume has grown in a declining category, why would you consider changing your strategic direction? The ‘cost to play’ within the cognac category is extremely high as competitors alter their pricing strategies to compete for an ever decreasing slice of the consumer base. Therefore Courvoisier viewed recruitment from other premium spirit categories as essential for the long term health of the brand. However, Courvoisier had some crucial issues to address: • How do you become relevant to new consumers? • How do you break well-established, unwritten 'rules' surrounding the cognac

category? • And how do you overcome a lack of brand definition against the

competition? This paper illustrates the bold way in which one of the UK's premium spirit brands effectively adopted best in class research methodology over a 12 month period to discover usage and attitudes towards the brand, what Return On Investment previous marketing activity had provided, on what occasions consumers currently drank various spirits and what brand messages appealed to both new and current consumers. The final stage was to conduct a thorough pitch process to appoint a strategic agency for the brand who would help develop a new brand platform to recruit consumers without alienating the loyal consumer base by addressing the key issues above.

Return on Investment Analysis highlighted what parts of our marketing activity have not been optimised and why

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Key findings: • Courvoisier didn’t clearly stand for anything in consumer’s

minds unlike competitor brands Veuve Clicquot, Hendricks and Absolut

• Courvoisier needed to move towards a less scattered investment plan, and adopt a more targeted approach to marketing spend

• The brand wasn't performing badly, but it wasn't punching above its weight in any particular channel

• There was a huge opportunity to own an idea and dominate a communication platform

Previous marketing campaigns hadn’t focused on the brand itself and emotionally connecting with consumers. They had been too executional focusing on mixability. There was a clear need to simplify and focus on a big idea to achieve better cut through.

The Usage & Attitudes Research helped understand how spirits consumers currently viewed and drank our brand in relation to competitors

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Key findings: • The majority of consumers are looking for a flexible

drink solution for a variety of social occasions • Consumers still spoke about unwritten 'rules' of the

category and neat consumption of Courvoisier was at 63%

• Knowledge about the category was limited and consumers were still demonstrating a lack of understanding about what cognac is

Today’s spirits consumers wanted options but ultimately wanted to do things on their own terms. Knowledge in the cognac category was limited but it was also limited in other spirits categories that consumers regularly enjoyed which didn’t stop consumers purchasing if they felt a connection to a brand.

The Consumer Messaging Research helped understand which brand messages would appeal core

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Key findings: • The greatest opportunity was to expand the brand’s

occasion set as cognac was currently pigeon holed into niche drinking occasions (as a digestif)

• Courvoisier's craftsmanship and perceived high quality proved powerful credentials in elevating the brand above other in/direct competitors

• Mixability didn’t rank as highly as expected • A consumer group called the ‘Social & Restless’ were

identified as representing the greatest potential for growth

The ‘Social & Restless’ consumer (25-44, Male/Female, ABC1, London centric) favoured aspirational premium spirit brands and were open to trying new drinks as long as the brand stood for something in their minds. However, this needed to be on their own terms and fit within their current drinking occasions (something that cognac currently did not).

An Occasion Based Segmentation Study analysed premium spirit drinking occasions to reveal opportunities

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Key findings: • Unsurprisingly, Courvoisier over indexed in the

traditional cognac drinking occasions of ‘Impress’ and ‘Indulge’

• Occasions where Courvoisier/cognac under indexed were in ‘Play’ and ‘Connect’

• As these were typically occasions that the Social & Restless target consumers themselves over indexed in, this represented an opportunity for the brand

It became clear that Courvoisier needed to act less like a cognac brand and more like a premium spirit brand (i.e. vodka or gin) that target consumers would be able to relate to. Courvoisier should transcend the cognac category to become a ‘category of one’

Creating a new brand strategy to connect with target consumers

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VCCP were appointed as strategic agency on Courvoisier following a rigorous pitch process. They were tasked with creating an emotional connection between consumers and the brand and ensuring Courvoisier stood for something in consumers’ minds. The new strategy had to be relevant to the target consumer whilst not alienating the core cognac drinker and this could be done by capitalising on ‘Play’ and ‘Connect’ opportunities, in an indulgent way. These social drinking occasions needed to appeal to premium spirits consumers and ensure we broke the ‘rules’ over ‘how’ and ‘when’ to drink cognac. The new positioning also needed to be unexpected for the cognac category and most importantly it had to communicate our Reason To Believe – our 200 year history. Many of our competitors played in the past (Jack Daniels) or the future (Martell’s Rise Above and Hennessy’s Never Stop Never Settle campaigns). There was therefore an opportunity to own the ‘now’, and create not only an emotional connection with consumers wishing to live in the moment but also a differentiated platform from other premium spirit brands.

‘Here’s to Now’ encouraged consumers to live spontaneously with Courvoisier

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The new ‘Here’s to Now’ brand strategy was created which encouraged consumers to ‘drop everything’ and celebrate the moment. This was a concept particularly relevant to our Social and Restless target consumer who don’t want to procrastinate anything in life. It was also important to bring in our Reason To Believe since we were a brand steeped in history so this led to the ‘200 years crafting a cognac with the perfect blend of aromas so you can enjoy the moment’ campaign messaging (recall that craftsmanship and quality had previously been identified as appealing messages). A print campaign was developed which visually brought the ‘Here’s to Now’ platform to life. Three intriguing social drinking occasions were created (a simplified marketing plan following the ROI study results) – the first showing a spontaneous forest party, the second a decadent cake party/food fight and the third showing a party scene. These were drinking occasions where cognac didn’t currently over-index and were more relevant to our target consumers. In each advert, you can’t see the full scene so you’re left to imagine yourself in the moment. This is enhanced with the bottle always being opened with some liquid poured out (very unexpected for spirits advertising) and the range of unusual cognac glasses helps break down the ‘rules’ in the category around how and when to drink cognac.

Intriguing, unexpected social occasions were strongly portrayed through our consumer print creative

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There are purposely no people in any of the adverts, which not only helps the consumer visualise themselves in that social setting but it ensures that we don’t alienate our older cognac drinker. The campaign is further brought to life with the ‘What better time than now?’ and ‘It might not be the right place but it’s definitely the right time’ copy, further enhancing the spontaneity we wished to communicate.

Events and social media brought the campaign to life for consumers

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The new positioning was also brought to life with an events and social media strategy which saw consumers win tickets at the last minute to be whisked off to Paris (the home of Courvoisier) for an all-expenses paid 24 hours. Again, we took on board the ROI learnings and focused spend on one big event. Ticketing was run through YPlan – London’s going out app for the spontaneous which provided the perfect ‘Here’s to Now’ partnership for the new campaign. The brand’s 200 year history was reflected in the various surprise activities guests were treated to along the way (e.g. a very old and rare cognac tasting in one of Napoleon’s General’s apartments) but this was made more relevant by bringing it all into the present day in a spontaneous manner. The campaign was rolled out further with a full TTL campaign in the On and Off Trade continually engaging with consumers in a more emotional and relevant way.

Results show consumers actively engaged with the new brand platform

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The new brand strategy and campaign was never about short term gains – it was about the long term health of the brand. That said, there were positive movements in profit and share, most notably on our luxury cognac XO (£108 per 70cl bottle). At a total brand level, Courvoisier grew +3.7% value v PY to an enviable 63% market share whilst our XO (featured in our brand campaign for the first time) grew +43% value MAT in the Off Trade and +36% in the On Trade. The campaign also exceeded KPI’s set, for example the print campaign alone reached 2.4million ABC1 25-44 year olds, which provided a 26.4% cover and 3.36 Opportunities To See. The YPlan activity reached 25% = 417,731 ‘Social and Restless’ consumers in the London area and Courvoisier’s own digital platforms re-engaged 67,049 consumers via online and Social Media channels. The research continues with a post campaign analysis looking at how well the communication platform and new creative was received by both the Social & Restless and existing consumers. Findings are due in March and the results will help refine the marketing plan for 2014 and beyond. Word count: 1,476 Sources: Nielsen (Off Trade) to w/e 07/12/13 and CGA Centro (On Trade) to w/e 30/11/13

Appendix - An intensive research process informed our launch

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The ExactCast study, based on the US political model

(Opposition, Base & Swing)

Understand fertile target

We identified a new strategic target for the brand

– The Social and the Restless.

We researched the messaging

amongst this group to see what drives an increase

in occasional consumption.

The effective messaging revolved around

craftsmanship, prestige, awards and provenance

ROI Marketing – Review effectiveness of

Courvoisier Comms Mix

Millward Brown – U&A Study, Consumption

behaviour and perceptions

Appointed new agency to develop Brand Idea,

Campaign and Creative

Executed the ‘Here’s to Now’ Campaign in market