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What comes to mind when you think cognac? An elderly gentleman in a leather-bound-book filled library; in his smoking jacket; cigar in hand; standing by the fireplace; sipping out of a bowl glass? We thought so too. That was, until we caught up with Christophe Pichambert, Zone Director, E.M.E.A (Europe, Middle East, Africa), Remy Cointreau and Siddharth Banerji, Director, Kyndal India Pvt. Ltd. at the launch of Remy Martin — a brand as synonymous with fine spirits as Chanel is with fashion, class and style.
Pichambert shatters the above perception for us. "That is the image. But it's far from the reality. To be fair, the image of cognac varies from country to country. The traditional image of cognac is that it's an after-dinner drink — in a bowl glass; by the fire-place — mostly drunk by old males. The reality of this is still the case in a few markets. However, the category has completely changed in the US, in China and in Russia (which are also the largest markets). The way we're pushing the drink now, there's no ritual anymore. Forget the ritual. We have a fantastic product. We're a lot more versatile than people think — you can drink it on many occasions: before dinner, after dinner, and even in a cocktail."
Pichambert goes on to explain a promotional programme called 'Sub Zero' in which shots of Remy Martin are frozen to -18 degrees to be consumed like an ice-lolly. "So it's a product you can really play with. If you look at the biggest cognac market in the world (the US), it is drunk with Coke. So there are no set rules anymore. There is that whole image, which is kind of dusty, but it's not reflecting in the new reality of the cognac category."
An increasing number of women are also taking to cognac, explains Pichambert. "Traditionally, it's more of a man's drink, like whiskey. Women are more oriented towards white spirits like vodka or gin or liqueurs. However, there is a category of women who wants to make a statement; they don't want to drink the 'girlie' drink anymore. I wouldn't say a massive number, but the split of cognac consumption is, I would say, 70-30. It's not a male exclusive drink."
He strongly believes that there's a massive potential for cognac in India. "Of course, we believe that there is: the structure of the market today shows that there's a huge potential market. It's currently very cheap but we believe that people have the taste. Building the brand will be a long-term process. The brown spirit category — brandy, whiskey and cognac — is very segmented by price and product qualities and it will take some time before the cognac category is massive, but the writing's on the wall."
Remy Martin and Kyndal have joined forces to target the type of people, who are exposed to international premium spirit beverages. "That segment of the target group is quite limited and the cognac market itself is also relatively limited. It's a matter of consistency and delivering a strong message — in terms of product," explains Pichambert. And then he talks about Louis XIII. It is truly a treasure, and priced between Rs 120,000-150,000 a bottle. There's a special history to it. The design of the bottle (almost a decanter) is exquisite and hasn't changed since 1874. "Obviously, Louis XIII is a luxury product. The bottle is made by Baccarat, and is very Baroque. The box it comes in is quite modern and it really brings forth the tradition as well as modernity with its contemporary look. We know that it's not going to be the daily milk of the Indian population, but we plan on it being present in every bar. We have to educate the bar-masters so they can talk about it, and we will use the image of Louis XIII to actively promote our more mainstream products like the V.S.O.P and X.O. categories."
As legend goes, the bottle was found in a field by a peasant. It apparently got left behind during a battle between Catholics and Protestants. "We don't know which side the bottle was from. The owner of Remy Martin bought the bottle from the peasant and decided to put the best spirit that he had in it. He, then, had it replicated, and ever since, we've been selling the product. It's got a fantastic history behind it; it's very interesting. And because Louis XIII is a blend of 50 and 100 year old spirits, it's like having an entire century in a bottle. It's been worked on by three generations of cellar-masters. So basically, a cellar-master, who is putting a young Louis XIII in a cask, is never going to drink it in his lifetime; his grandson probably will," explains Pichambert.
The primary target for this product is mostly lounge bars and 5-star hotel bars owing to its extremely high price. "In a bar, at Rs 5,000 a shot, it's still extremely expensive, but for an extraordinary occasion — for a celebration or something — people are willing to pay," says Pichambert.
We asked the duo about whether they'd be doing any cross promos like the Scotch and Cigar clubs, which seem to be sprouting all over the place. Says Banerji, "Cigars and cognac is the original combination, though Scotch is what we got into, in India. Cross associations between two categories, whether cigars or something else is a very niche category. We don't like to promote our brand with any other sort of stimulant. Therefore, while cigars and cognac do have a partial statement, and there are a lot of cognac-cigar bars, which use that as a format of marketing, I think that in this day and age, it would be too niche. What happens is you end up sending the message: if you want to enjoy a cognac, you do that with a cigar. And what if I don't smoke?"
Pichambert adds, "Mechanically, people actually associate those two products. It's not something we actively promote, because we do not ultimately want to be associated with cigars. Also, cigars are very male, and our challenge is to bring a new image for cognac overall."
Pichambert is not blind to the many challenges they will face, but is extremely optimistic. "We've been enjoying a very good last 10 years but what we need to do is change the mindset of consumers with regard to cognac. It's not this old-fashioned category anymore. One of Beyonce's latest music videos features a bottle of a Louis XIII on the table. So the places where you see this bottle or the way it is consumed has very greatly changed." Incidentally, there's also a rapper who's re-christened himself Remy Martin, which should come as no surprise, when the fact is that the majority of Remy Martin consumers in the US are African-American.
Pichambert continues, "Here in the Indian market, we're starting from scratch. We've been selling a few bottles here and there since 2001 in 5-star-hotels, but in a very traditional way. No promotional activities have been done with either the trade or the consumers. So the idea for us is not to say, 'We have a new image, we're fantastic and that we're the sexiest brand on earth'. What we want to tell the consumers and the trade is, 'We have a long-standing tradition of making certain products, they're very relevant because you can play with them in such-and-such ways, and they are very sexy because these are the people who're drinking it, and this is what's being done with it'."
"In a previous interview, I was taking the example of super-premium vodka, like Belvedere and Grey Goose. They are famous brands and are really, hyped, but the key question is the sustainability of those brands. Why, as a consumer, would you pay for a product that is only delivering an image and package…