THE FRENCH CHAMPAGNE INDUSTRY

INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS PLAN

COURSE: CAMPAIGN PRESENTATION

TEAM MEMBERS: JAKE GERARD, JENNA VAN KLAVEREN,
DELIA LOVELESS, STEVEN SPRINGSTEAD & LINDSAY.
DATE: MARCH 15TH 2016

Champagne has been produced in France since before the Middle Ages and has benefited from
its perceived characteristics of sophistication and premium quality around the world. More
recently, champagne as a type of sparkling wine has been subject to various types of protection
including safeguarding of the name, establishing champagne as a trademark, and even limiting
the export of champagne to maintain its prices in international markets. There are over 70
champagne houses who are members of the Union Des Maisons De Champagne (Champagne
Houses Union in English) which are considered to be the big brands of champagne and the largest
producers of the wine.
Champagne, being predominantly consumed in North American culture at special events such as
weddings and New Years Eve celebrations, has seen a rise in competition in the Canadian market
from other sparkling wines. These wines offer a more affordable price point for Canadian wine
consumers and have begun taking sales away from French champagne producers whose prices
stay locked at a higher point due to efforts to maintain the prestige of the brand by a controlled
supply of the product.
It is our recommendation that the French champagne industry and the Champagne Houses Union
work together to attract a new clientele in the 20 35 millennial age demographic while still
supporting and valuing their established client base of women age 35 65. Our team proposes
using a combination of social media campaigns, trend-setter and taste-influencer support, and
traditional advertising to reach out to both new and faithful audiences. While one of our primary
goals is to increase the frequency of consumption of champagne, the quality and prestige of this
household name must be carefully considered while crafting and executing our strategies.
Maintaining the sense of a premium product with quality ingredients as well as champagnes
unique position in the alcoholic beverage market is a top priority for this campaign. We believe
that champagne can hold its position as a leader in quality and regain its position as market leader
of sparkling wine by allowing consumers to have your taste of excellence, today.

With the rise in popularity of sparkling wine in Canada, true French champagne has seen a decline
in its sales. Cheaper sparkling wines made outside of Champagne have started to take away sales
for the more cost-conscious consumer. This competition has prompted the French champagne
industry and the Union of Champagne Houses to take action and to revisit their marketing
communications strategy for the Canadian market. An integrated marketing communications
plan is required to help the French champagne industry increase the consumption of premium
French champagne in new and existing customer bases in the Canadian market.

We have two main communications objectives for the French champagne industry:
1. To increase the sales of champagne products across Canada by 15% by December 31, 2016.
2. To increase awareness of the differences between champagne and sparkling wine, as well as
the Canadian consumers knowledge of champagnes uses for various occasions by at least
5% by December 31, 2016.

Millennial consumers under 35.

Influential tastemakers with strong social clout.
Affluent women aged 30 to 65.

Food and lifestyle media, such as:

o Vogue
o The Coveteur
o Refinery6
o Dolce Vita Magazine
o LXRY Magazine

Alcohol Distributors such as:

o The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO)

Young, urban-dwelling professionals.
Trendy and high-end restaurants, event venues, and bars with liquor licenses in Canada.
Champagne houses in France.
Sommeliers, Certified Specialists of Spirits and other professionals working within the
Canadian liquor and distillery industry.

1. Partner with social influencers to increase awareness of champagne products.

2. Reach out to various fashion and lifestyle media outlets to obtain exposure and coverage.
3. Utilize traditional forms of advertising to promote champagne products in Canada.

1: Partner with social influencers to increase awareness of champagne products.

Social Media:

o Create a website and social media profiles on both Twitter and Instagram to
represent the French Champagne Industry. These profiles will represent Frances
major champagne houses, including Mot and Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, which
are a part of the organisation Union de Maisons de Champagne (UMC).
o These social media profiles will be used to promote dynamic, original content as
well as share content from influential champagne consumers.
o Develop and implement an engaging social media campaign on Twitter and
Instagram in order to reach target audiences, especially the millennial market.

Collaborations and Sponsorships:

o Research influential Canadian lifestyle and food bloggers, such as The Coveteur,
Ania Boniecka, Chole Wise and Gracie Carroll.
o Secure partnerships with these Canadian lifestyle and food bloggers in order to
promote champagne products in Canada.
o Once partnerships have been secured, provide product samples to these various
Canadian bloggers and social influencers so that they can write sponsored posts
on champagne products as well as promote these items through strategic product
placements on Instagram.
o Sponsored blog posts about champagne products can be cocktail recipes,
coverage of special events, or personal narratives that demonstrate how these
influential bloggers incorporate champagne products into their day-to-day lives.
o In order to garner the most exposure to target audiences, ask that the sponsored
blog posts be placed in high-traffic sections of the blog, and that they are
accessible through subpages of the blogs until the sponsorship ends.
2. Reach out to various fashion and lifestyle media outlets to obtain exposure and coverage.
Media Releases

o Develop media releases to be sent to major news media outlets regarding the
revitalization of champagne products, as well as inviting them to a special
champagne tour in Champagne, France.

Media Tour:

o Host a special champagne tour for the media, specifically lifestyle and fashion
media outlets, in Champagne, France.
o The champagne tour will allow the French champagne industry to emphasize the
idea that champagne is superior to sparkling wine as the tour will demonstrate the
Methode Champenoise, which is the unique way in which champagne is
produced.
o Samples of champagne products from various champagne houses will be provided
to reporters and other media personnel so that they may review it for their
editorial columns.

o Surveys will also be disseminated at the champagne tours and tastings event to
better gauge the opinion of the media.

Media Kits:

o Prepare media kits, which would include a media release providing details on the
revitalization of champagne products in Canada. The media kit would also include
a detailed description of the Methode Champenoise, information on the 76
champagne houses in the UMC, and company contact information.
o These media kits would then be disseminated to variety of traditional (print) and
digital media outlets for potential coverage, including:
Vogue
The Coveteur
Refinery6
Dolce Vita Magazine
LXRY Magazine
Toronto Star
CBC
Lush Magazine
Pie Magazine
NUVO Magazine
Lifestyler
Preferred Magazine
Bold Magazine
Gourmet Magazine
Edible Vancouver
Eat Magazine
3: Utilize traditional forms of advertising to promote champagne products in Canada.

Advertising Campaign:

o Develop an engaging print media advertising campaign to be placed in relevant

magazines focused on food, lifestyle, fashion, interior design, and business.
o The advertising campaign will aim to change the way Canadians perceive
champagne products and will suggest that champagne cannot be replicated by
sparkling wines.
o The advertising campaign will generate brand awareness and put champagne
products at the front of consumers minds, specifically women in the 35-60 age
range, when they are purchasing alcoholic beverages.
o The advertisements will depict how champagne makes every day more luxurious.

The French champagne industry can employ various methods and tools to evaluate the
effectiveness of the Integrated Marketing Communications Plan strategies and tactics. These
methods will include:

Evaluation of Social Media:

o Cisions Social Media Analytics Tool:
Measure the quantity of likes, favorites, reposts, retweets, and shares that
occurred on Twitter and Instagram.
Measure the amount of feedback sponsored blog posts received, how
many of these blog posts directed readers to the product website, and how
people found the article.
Measure the organic reach and paid reach, as well as the number of
impressions each blog and social media posts made.
This tool will also provide The French champagne industry with
information on what audiences are saying about the brand. This
information will assist them evaluating their audiences responses and
attitudes towards to specific social media content
This tool will also monitor, measure and evaluate the effectiveness of the
French Champagne Industrys Twitter and Instagram profiles by providing
detailed reports which will demonstrate the impact of specific social media
campaigns on the brand, including the return on investment (ROI) of the
campaigns impact and virality online.
o Google Analytics Tool:
This tool will allow for the French champagne industry to monitor,
measure and evaluate their websites traffic in order to determine how
much the social media campaign, sponsorships, and traditional advertising
strategies have driven traffic to the website.

Evaluation of Media Tour:

o Media Tour Surveys:
The surveys completed by the media at the media tour and tasting event
in Champagne, France will provide valuable information regarding the
medias opinions about the various champagne products.
These surveys will allow the French champagne industry to determine
which champagne products were most popular amongst the Canadian
media reporters and social influencers.
o Media Content Monitoring and Analysis Tool:

Monitoring the media will allow the French champagne industry to pull
qualitative information from news articles published about the tour and
tasting event, including the following:
Was the event enjoyable?
Was the event informative?
How do the champagne products compare to sparkling wine
products? Has it been well-received?
Were there varying opinions amongst the various news outlets?
How does the media feel about the French Champagne Industry?
Do they believe the event was successful?
Would they recommend champagne products to others?
Individual reporter feedback can be obtained at the event itself.

o Measurement of Product Sales:

Sales of champagne products in Canada can be measured immediately
after the event, especially for the first few weeks after, to see if there has
been a large surge in sales.
The measurement of sales can be done by monitoring and tracking product
sales with the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO). If the sales have
gone up, then the media tour has proven to be successful and can be
replicated in the future.
Mointor and track product sales within various Liquor Control Board of
Ontario retail stores throughout Canada in order to see what champagne
products are being purchased, and if they correlate with the opinions of
media tour attendees.

Evaluation of Advertising Campaign:

o The reach of the traditional advertising campaign can be measured by how many
magazines featuring the print advertisements were sold.
o The effectiveness of these advertisements can be measured by determining how
much traffic on the website has been a result of these advertisements through a
quick, optional online survey for those visiting the website.