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Cognac - Which is more important ... Taste or Image?

by Robert Stansfield,  RSI

A few ideas and perhaps suggestions.

In a recent research conducted on 1500 shoppers who found that consumers seem to evaluate brands primarily by extrinsic cues (price, name, packaging and design) rather than intrinsic characteristics such as ingredients and taste.

In an experiment, shoppers tasted various products that were identified as either a national brand or a store product. What they did not know was that half store label products were actually labeled as national brands and vice versa.

The result showed unequivocally that the customer evaluated the store labels as of lower quality even when the actual products tasted were national brands. Conversely, they rated the national brands as of higher quality even those brands were actually store products in disguise.

These results indicate that consumers use extrinsic factors to guide their choices and infer that the quality of store label products as low because of the low price and lack of national brand name and image. The study also revealed that consumers seemed by and large to be more interested in quality than in price.

Cognac industry now needs to start asking the customer some basic questions, 'why do people buy cognac, what they actually want". In order to re-appraise Cognac's relevance to consumers in a modern society, producers should now be asking what products or service offerings will meet the target segments needs and wants.

It may be that Cognac producers need to look at a wider fulfillment experience. For some, this may involve brand extensions. In a recent Rèmy Martin advertisement, they showed a woman enjoying a cigar whilst advertising XO cognac. What are they trying to say in this advert? They certainly wish to be associated with cigars to complement XO cognac. For a modern consumer self-indulgence experience, Rèmy Martin could actually consider producing their own cigars to complement their Cognac. This would certainly make consumers stand up and take more notice as well as strengthening the consumer experience, it would also make an easier consumer choice and reinforce the brand as a total consumer experience whilst enhancing the brands core values.

Rèmy Martin, like many Cognac houses should focus on what the customer wants and if they are looking for a total indulgence experience they should now try to fulfill this need whilst enhancing their relationship with the customer. Rèmy Martin could also consider other product extensions whose values they can associate with.

In the same way that Davidoff crossed over from cigars to leather, to water, to toiletries, to Cognac many luxury brands now extend their products in order to give the customer what they are looking for.

Hermes started selling carriage whips, now consumers associate them with a broad range of quality products, all with the same core values.

There is no reason why major Cognac houses should not consider line extensions to enhance their image with relevant products presented in a modern and quality way. They could even consider Cognac shops in airports and major cities throughout the world, including a total consumer experience of all quality things French that can be associated with Cognac whilst getting closer to the customer and gaining valuable customer knowledge.

Smaller independent Cognac houses, who do not have the resources to build line extensions and market them under their own name could consider partnerships with other branded houses with the same core values as their own where Cognac could enhance their product brand. Why not Pelikan Cognac, or Godiva XO? Just a few thoughts...

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