Martell celebrates new Création in travel-retail

Tina Milton

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Martell marked the introduction of its high-end cognac Création Grand Extra in travel-retail at the Château de Chanteloup in Cognac last week

Martell celebrated the launch of its premium cognac Création Grand Extra at a brand update held at the Château de Chanteloup in Cognac last month.



The cognac, which replaces the Extra line, will be introduced to stores at Paris Charles de Gaulle and Hong Kong International airports in February and at Frankfurt and Oslo airports in March.

Création Grand Extra made its travel-retail debut with DFS Group in Singapore in November and in Malaysia in January and is priced at $250.



Création Grand Extra is aimed at businessmen aged between 35 and 50. Communications director Elisabeth Ricard, niece of chairman and CEO Patrick Ricard, said: “It also has appeal for gifting as many people will drink it as a status symbol to show the level of their success.”

Martell is the third best-selling brand in travel-retail and Ricard explained its importance. She said: “Travel-retail accounts for about 16% of [the brand's] sales and it’s a unique opportunity to showcase a premium cognac in a small but key category.”

The launch will be supported in-store by display units and glorifiers to ensure visibility.

Martell has also operated several in-store promotions including a golden ticket initiative with tastings to celebrate Chinese New Year at London Heathrow airport terminal three this month. Chinese-speaking hostesses wearing classic costumes gave out Ang Pao golden envelopes to shoppers and each golden ticket was exchanged for a Martell Cordon Bleu miniature.

Ricard described the promotion at T3 as an initiative that “worked well and was appreciated” although sales growth figures were unavailable.

Martell has continued its commitment to the travel-retail sector with a number of exterior adverts at several key airports such as Paris Charles de Gaulle, where an advert for Martell XO was installed earlier this month and will remain until at least June.

Ricard said: “All travellers will go past the advertisement so it’s a good opportunity for the brand to gain visibility. It’s part of a strategy being developed to target Chinese and Russian travellers through major airports.”

Martell reported that the brand sells 1.3m cases a year worldwide and sales were up by 11% year on year to June. Ricard explained: “[We’ve seen] accelerated growth of superior quality brands and Asia has also been very dynamic.”