Perfect Partnership Campaign
Our campaign was built around a series of webisodes that walked through the process of making the macarons so our consumers could continue the perfect pairing long after Valentine’s Day.
Overview
For Piper-Heidsieck, Jack Morton developed the Perfect Partner campaign to educate and inspire Australians to give the gift of Rosé Sauvage to their loved one for Valentine’s Day.
We partnered with Adriano Zumbo to create a never-before-seen bespoke macaron to perfectly partner both the Champagne and the moment. Supported by a seven-part branded entertainment story, public relations, a social media campaign, point of sale and a unique gift with purchase, Piper-Heidsieck Rosé Sauvage outsold competitors 4 to 1 and experienced a sales increase of 39,228% from the previous year’s quarter.
Challenge
The thirst for Champagne continues to grow in Australia, with over 6 million bottles shipped from France. With a growth of +8.3% vs 2013, Australia is now the sixth-largest export market in the world.
Australians are mainly drinking non-vintage Champagne, which represents almost 93% of the Champagne consumed in Australia. However, pink Champagnes are decreasing strongly by 21% after a growth of 30%.
Despite a decade of winning global awards associated with wine quality, Piper-Heidsieck had lost some of its perceived prestige due to its seasonal discounting tactics. Awareness and consideration for the brand were low within the Australian market.
Valentine’s Day is a competitive sale period for Champagne brands and was identified as the perfect opportunity to promote the Rosé Sauvage Champagne. Piper-Heidsieck wanted to stand out from the marketplace with a value proposition and convert consumers as soon as they saw our product in the noisy retail environment. There was an opportunity to position Piper-Heidsieck Rosé Sauvage at a price point where it would be viewed as an affordable everyday luxury for the target audience we identified, the Adventurous Connoisseur.
Objectives
- Increase awareness of Rosé Sauvage
- Increase 2014 sales of Rosé Sauvage
Strategy
Without any above the line advertising budget, we not only needed to educate consumers on the Rosé Sauvage’s credentials, but also position the Champagne as the perfect partner for Valentine’s Day celebrations.
Traditionally when consumers think of Champagne, food pairings that come to mind are chocolate or Champagne breakfasts. For Valentine’s Day, we wanted to offer something completely unique and spoke to our brand’s French heritage.
To develop our own perfect partner for the occasion we engaged local advocate Adriano Zumbo. Zumbo’s values aligned with the Piper-Heidsieck brand and appealed to the Adventurous Connoisseur audience that we were targeting. By partnering with Zumbo, we were able to leverage the masculine, quality and taste credentials synonymous with his brand as a leading pastry chef.
Idea
The Perfect Partnership: Partner with pastry chef Adriano Zumbo to create bespoke macarons that perfectly complemented Rosé Sauvage’s flavour and personality.
Experience and execution
Four unique Rosé Sauvage-inspired macaron flavours were available as a gift with purchase. Created by Adriano Zumbo, we filmed the process to develop content and amplify our story. To highlight the credentials of the Rosé Sauvage, we engaged our Piper-Heidsieck brand ambassador Ned Goodwin (Master of Wine) to weave the Rosé story into the process. The campaign was also supported by a drive-to-store social media and PR strategy that leveraged Adriano Zumbo’s large customer base and drove customers back to our Facebook page.
Our whole campaign was based on The Perfect Partnership, so we needed to bring to life and contextualise our positioning to consumers. We started the year by launching a social media awareness campaign around the perfect food and Champagne pairings. From oysters to chocolates to Champagne breakfasts, our Facebook content highlighted perfect pairings with Piper-Heidsieck’s Champagne.
Two weeks before Valentine’s Day, we announced our Valentine’s Day partnership with Adriano Zumbo and Ned Goodwin MW on our Facebook page. In conjunction with Adriano Zumbo’s marketing team, we developed a social media strategy that engaged both Piper-Heidsieck’s and Adriano Zumbo’s social community.
Our campaign was built around a series of webisodes that walked through the process of making the macarons so our consumers could continue the perfect pairing long after Valentine’s Day.
Scope
- Branded content series
- PR
- Digital, social & mobile
- Promotional marketing
Impact
78% brand growth
92, 000 people reached every month on social media
390x sales increase for rosé
We fulfilled the brand’s main objectives—to raise awareness, and drive purchase consideration and sales. For our effectiveness, we won a PRO Awards Gold for Best Use of Influencer Marketing.
Our Perfect Partnership successfully connected Piper-Heidsieck with Australian consumers, and connected partners with each other for a romantic Valentine’s Day.