Champagne Lanson scales up activations in global travel retail
Champagne Lanson is gearing up for a busy year in global travel retail with an increased schedule of airport activations to support the launch of Le Black Création. The French brand will also be promoting Le Black Réserve and a new creation is to be revealed later this year.
HPPs are planned with leading retailers throughout the year from May onwards, including summer activities to support the brand’s sponsorship of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships.
Champagne Lanson has seen exceptional sales results over the past three years with its global travel retail sales over-performing against the industry average for wine & spirits. While sales of Champagne generally returned to pre-COVID levels in 2023, after three extraordinary years, Lanson said demand for its cuvées continues to exceed expectations and has helped cement the decision to increase GTR investment this year.
“We know that Champagne and sparkling wine have been key drivers of global travel retail sales recovery since COVID-19 and for Lanson we have seen clear evidence of that in our results. This has been further driven by the relaunch of Le Black Label as Le Black Création with excellent results from activations in the last quarter of 2023.
“We are aware that there are challenges for this year with an uncertain political and economic situation across much of the globe. There is also pressure on stocks following small harvests in 2020 and 2021, compounded by over-purchasing in 2022, but we remain confident that more investment in GTR will pay dividends," said Albane Lussat, Lanson Champagne Global Travel Retail Account Manager.
With a focus on tastings and food pairing, he said activations are vital as a tool to drive awareness of the brand. “Despite inflationary pressures, we still see that when they are traveling, consumers are more inclined to look for a special treat and indulgence. Champagne perfectly meets that desire. That is why this year we will be investing more than ever in HPPs with our retail partners. We still consider global travel retail as the perfect showcase for Champagne Lanson with much opportunity for sales growth. While our focus remains Europe and the Middle East we see a great deal of room for growth in Asia and the Americas.
“We have a new introduction planned for later this year and are confident that will continue to build the Champagne Lanson global travel retail footprint,” Lussat added.