Building a strong customer relation with a product requires competent personnel to enable it thrive in the present dynamic and competitive business settings. For continuous and sustainable brand success, specialists should carefully select and position the products to the target market.
The Champagne house has many skilled brand managers; they took different approaches and attempted several alternatives to position different brands of Champagne to their present status (Hirche 2012). Proper management of Champagne brands has increased the level at which customers identify themselves with the products.
The strong brands have added significant values to Champagne products, as it is in the minds of consumers, thus most customers associate themselves with the brand. Dom Perignon brand makes Moet & Chandon Wineries Company to generate more value than other Champagnes that lacks such strong brands.
Conducting a well-organized advertisement for a product or service alters market perceptions. Advertisement of Champagne brands helped in formation of mental images in the minds of consumers. This has made it easy for the company to sell its common brands, such as Krug and Dom Perignon with ease, as there is little competition. Competition has been minimal in the sense that customers have developed strong taste and preference for the Champagne brands (Hirche 2012).
In keeping with market dynamism, Champagne brands find there way into key functions like parties, football celebrations, and other significant functions. With such strong connections, consumers believe that Champagne brands are superior to generic wines. Dom Perigon, for instance, is an expensive brand that continues to dominate the wine market given the strong emotional association that it has with consumers.
Therefore, consumers can pay premium rates to purchase this brand, instead of acquiring cheap sparkling wines. This strong brand connection has enabled Moet & Chandon Wineries Company to develop positive brand equity with consumers. Notably, the brand loyalty has taken a sustainable approach; it is reflected on the financial growth of the company.
The strong brand connection that the firm enjoys from some of its brands indicates the difference that emanates from advertising different brands. It is nearly impossible for all brands to receive same market response. However, a single brand can influence the sales of other brands of the same company, as consumers do not only form strong connections with the brand, but also with the company (Brand Equity n.d.).
Product equity helps companies in value generation from three fronts. It is the emotional and intellectual attachments or associations that consumers have with a given product or service. For instance, customers can willingly pay more for a bottle of Krug or Bollinger to a bottle of generic Champagne, such as Mumm or Perrier Jouet (Brand Equity n.d.). This occurs in spite the lack justifiable difference in the tastes of the two brands to support the reason for the high premium.
Advertisements build strong images in the minds of customers, such that they move from the awareness stage to sustainable loyalty with the brand. Adverts persuade consumers to prefer a given product to that of the competitors. It also reminds and reassures consumers of the acceptability of the product offering.
After influencing consumers to choose a certain product over others, it becomes a brand name. Dom Perignon, Krug, and Bollinger are key brands that control the market share and sales of the manufacturing company; they influence the overall business outcomes. The road to brand loyalty begins with the Advert committees creating brand awareness among consumers. Then, there is the brand trial stage; here, consumers try to use the brand, and then develop preferences.
At brand preference stage, emotional and intellectual associations arise, as consumers make repetitious purchases. Lastly, brand loyalty occurs. At this stage, consumers demand the brand and can pay premium rates to acquire it. With high loyalty comes strong attachment with the brand, such that consumers cannot substitute the brand for any other wine (Sutherland & Sylvester 2000).
According to Goode (2012), Champagne occupies an elevated space in the wine industry, and this has been due to massive advertisements that Grand Marques has carried out. The hard work has built brand equity for Champagne products, such that there is a guarantee in price elevation for any bottle of wine having the Champagne name. Even though there are expensive Champagne brands, the presence of inexpensive brands erode the brand equity.
Product advertisement differs from one brand to another. For example, Dom Perignon brand has higher prestige level than Veuve Clicquot judging from the way consumers seek them. Bollinger brand trends more than the Taittinger brand. In a competitive and dynamic market, a product’s image is everything.
Multiple campaigns by Moet & Chandon Wineries Company have seen Krug and Dom Perignon top the most consumed list of brands. Advertisements also aim at changing consumers’ beliefs or mindsets on certain products or services. This increases the market segment resulting in development of a larger market.
Champagne brands are distributed to specific locations, associated with right personalities, and events. In addition, Moet & Chandon Wineries Company has been using brand adverts to distinguish their products from those of the competitors (Chamberlin 1918). This has made it easy for consumers to differentiate their products from others. Massive investment is required in order to build a prestige brand, and for Champagne, such investment is not a significant problem.
For sustainable loyalty among consumers, the investment has to remove the pressure to sell that could lead to negative decisions from consumers in future. Advertisement is a major tool that alters consumers’ negative perceptions, and instils the brand image in their minds.
With the image of Champagne brands in the minds of consumers, there is a barrier to entry of new products and reduction in competition from similar products. The move blocks new competitors from establishing their presence in the wine market, as consumers can forego buying wine if the brand is not available.
Advertising has been a great weapon for the development of strong images of the Champagne brands. Champagne products remain unrivalled in the market even with other brands trending at high prices. Consumers put more value on Champagne than other beverages. A comparison of the sales of Roederer, Laurent-Perrier, and Veuve Clcquot reveal different market perceptions (Goode 2012).
The knowledge consumers have about the named brands are different resulting in different brand equity measurements. Product equity is also comprehended from the point of tangible financial assets that a firm owns.
This entails the strategic positioning and planning that a company has put in place to ensure successful transfer of products to consumers. The move to distinguish different brands of Champagne made the Wine firm to register positive market response, but at different levels. The images below show some of the major Champagne brands that are trending in the wine market.
References
Brand Equity n.d., UK Essays: Marketing. Web.
Chamberlin, H. H 1918, Champagne Song: or The Wine of Victory, Taylor & Francis, Paris.
Goode, J 2012, How to Manage a Champagne Brand, Some Thoughts, The Wine Anorack. Web.
Hirche, M 2012, Brand Equity – the Case of Champ… What?, Martins Winelust. Web.
Sutherland, M., & Sylvester, A. K 2000, Advertising and the Mind of the Consumer: What works, What Doesn’t, and Why (2nd ed.), Allen & Unwin, St. Leonards, NSW.