G.H. Mumm / Perrier Jouet

G.H. Mumm and Perrier-Jouët are two of the leading international champagne houses in the world. G.H. Mumm is most known for its Cordon Rouge brand, dating back to 1875, which competed with global “grand marque” champagne brands. Perrier-Jouët, based in the Épernay region of Champagne, was founded in 1811 and is one of France’s most historic and distinctive champagne houses, producing high quality champagne that competes with prestige global brands.
Our team was introduced to Jean-Jacques Frey, a champagne producer and business man who had just agreed to acquire both G.H. Mumm and Perrier-Jouët brands from Seagram International. Frey knew that the Kainos team had experience in branded consumer goods and sought a partner with strong industry knowledge and relationships. The Kainos team viewed G.H. Mumm/ Perrier-Jouët as an attractive opportunity to grow a highly strategic asset with exceptional brand heritage. The two brands were undermanaged within Seagram’s broader portfolio, and our vision was to invest additional marketing resources in the brands, leverage the high-quality production facilities in an industry with finite capacity, and reposition the pricing to enhance margins. Frey shared in this vision and the partnership facilitated the carve-out of the brands from Seagram in 1999.
The Kainos team immediately converted the new business into a profit-driven operation with an entrepreneurial management culture by selecting a fresh leadership team, including the appointment of CEOs for each line of business, a U.S. sales and merchandising team, and a global marketing team. The central marketing function created a brand new global marketing campaign for G.H. Mumm and Perrier-Jouët together for the first time. This included redesigning Mumm’s packaging to strengthen the quality perception and brand relevance to support higher pricing. To this end, we helped secure a global sponsorship with a new Formula One Racing campaign to improve the product visibility for Mumm. Moreover, the team also invested additional marketing resources behind Perrier-Jouët, repositioning it as the “Champagne of Romance” through a global campaign.
Our team also worked with the new management team to eliminate legacy discounting tactics in favor of strategic price increases, which reinforced the updated luxury image of the brand. The new distribution and merchandising program resulted in helping the Company secure 22,000 new points of distribution globally in 13 weeks.
After rejuvenating two iconic brands, the Company was sold to Allied Domecq PLC, an international marketer of wine and spirits, in 2000.