How cognac rediscovered a taste for Scotch whisky
When he first took charge of Hennessy - the leading cognac house of the French LVMH luxury conglomerate - Christophe Navarre ordered his staff to stop drinking whisky. A former whisky drinker himself, he asks: "How can you promote cognac if you are drinking whisky with your customers?"
Yet Mr Navarre, who now heads up the group's entire Moet-Hennessy wine and spirits business, has taken to drinking whisky again. Not any whisky, but Glenmorangie single malt. For since acquiring the famous malt whisky company 18 months ago, Mr Navarre has been busy encouraging Glenmorangie to strengthen its image as a luxury brand and penetrate new markets in the Asia-Pacific region.
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The French have not made any changes to management. After all, they have been doing a pretty good job and the idea from the start was to retain the management and bring it into Moet-Hennessy's decentralised business model.
But Mr Navarre admits the Scottish team was somewhat surprised when one of the first things he told them was he did not care if the brand was not number one in the UK. Far better to be number one in industry margins rather than volumes, and far better to be number one in Asia or the US.
Glenmorangie has now slipped behind Glenfiddich in the UK, but its association with Moet-Hennessy has helped sales grow vigorously in places such as Taiwan and Japan as well as North America. And while the bigger market for blended whiskies has remained virtually static during the last decade, malt whisky has continued to grow steadily in volume and value.
The trend continues to see consumers drinking less but better. There is growing demand for products with a heritage. And as luxury brand builders go, few do it better than LVMH. Paul Neep, Glenmorangie's chief executive, says the French are certainly helping the company develop in luxury. But he also says the Scottish company has always been a brand builder itself.
Indeed, it is transforming the old Ardbeg distillery on Islay into a cult brand. Glenmorangie took over Ardbeg 10 years ago from Allied Domecq.
As part of its transformation into a luxury brand, Ardbeg recently sold a limited edition of 261 bottles of its rarest malt for ￡2,000 ($3,710) a piece. "They could have probably fetched far more," says Mr Neep. And with Mr Navarre drinking whisky again, expect a few more extravagant Highland jigs.
既饮白兰地，也品威士忌
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克里斯托弗?纳瓦雷(Christophe Navarre)刚刚执掌轩尼诗(Hennessy，法国奢侈品集团LVMH旗下的著名科涅克白兰地厂商)后，他便命令公司员工停止喝威士忌。原来也喝威士忌的他问道：“如果你和客户喝威士忌，那还怎么推销科涅克白兰地呢？”
纳瓦雷现在负责统领酩悦轩尼诗(Moet-Hennessy)旗下所有葡萄酒和烈酒业务，他又开始喝威士忌了。然而，并非任意一种威士忌他都喜欢喝，他爱喝的是格兰奥兰治(Glenmorangie)单一麦芽威士忌。因为自从18个月前收购了这家著名麦芽威士忌公司后，纳瓦雷便一直忙于推动将格兰奥兰治提升为奢侈品牌，并向亚太新市场渗透。
这位法国人没有对格兰奥兰治的管理层进行任何调整。毕竟，他们一直表现得相当出色，而且收购之初的想法就是要留住管理层，并将其纳入酩悦轩尼诗的分散化业务模式之中。
但纳瓦雷首先告诉这支苏格兰团队的事情之一，便是他并不关心该品牌在英国是否排名第一。他承认，他们听到这话时多少有些惊讶。行业利润率排名第一要比销量第一强得多，在亚洲或美国排第一要比在英国第一好得多。
现在，格兰奥兰治在英国市场上已经落后于格兰菲迪(Glenfiddich)，但成为酩悦轩尼诗旗下一员，已推动它在台湾、日本以及北美等地的销量强劲增长。过去10年间，规模更大的混合型威士忌市场实际上处于停滞状态，而麦芽威士忌的销量和价值继续稳步增长。
未来的消费趋势将仍是喝得更少，但更好。消费者对于传统产品的需求不断增长。就奢侈品牌缔造者而言，很少有谁比LVMH做得更好。格兰奥兰治首席执行官保罗?尼普(Paul Neep)称，LVMH的确在帮助公司成长为奢侈品牌。但他同时表示，格兰奥兰治自身一直也是一个品牌缔造者。
实际上，格兰奥兰治目前正将伊斯雷岛上的阿德贝哥(Ardbeg)酒厂转变为一个让人顶礼膜拜的品牌。10年前，格兰奥兰治从酒业巨头联合?道麦克(Allied Domecq)手中收购了这家酒厂。
作为向奢侈品牌转型努力的一部分，阿德贝哥最近以每瓶2000英镑（3710美元）的价格售出了261瓶由该厂最珍贵麦芽酿制成的限量版威士忌。“它们的售价本可以高得多，”尼普表示。既然纳瓦雷又开始喝威士忌了，我们可以期待看到更多奢华的苏格兰营销招数。
