Malo what?

July 10, 2009 in Consumer marketing with 7 Comments

Do you know what Malolactic Fermentation is?

If you do, you are probably amongst the tiny, miniscule, one-bubble-out-of-a-bottle-of-champagne’s-worth fraction of people in this country, including most wine lovers, that do. Congratulations!

In that case, I wonder whether this advert by Champagne brand Lanson that I saw this week on the London Underground is for you? It is certainly not for the average Champagne drinker and wine consumer.

Lanson Advert

The full text of the advert is:

“Since 1760, we’ve crafted Champagne the traditional way, choosing to avoid malolactic fermentation and insisting on 3 years’ cellar ageing. What emerges is an uplifting, crisp and fresh tasting Champagne with an exceptional purity of fruit.”

Does anyone in the wine business believe that consumers on the underground care all that much about the conversion of Malic Acid into Lactic Acid? I’m afraid that at best this advert was a bit of a waste of money for a good Champagne house, but at worst it confirmed that Champagne (and wine in general) is for snobs that know words like “malolactic fermentation”, “cellar ageing” and “purity of fruit”.

C’mon Lanson! Please use your undoubtedly strong brand, and your marketing budget, to do something a bit better and encourage the wine conversation. Oh, and while you are at it, you might like to improve your website – THAT is where you can reach out to wine experts and provide details of your winemaking.

Now, I wonder if there’s a name for the process of converting harsh, unapproachable advertising into well-rounded, consumer friendly material instead?

UPDATE 13:39 10/07/09: It occurs to me that really this is a classic error of selling Features not Benefits (loads of articles if you search, but this is a good one on selling the zaz.

COMMENTS: Thanks to all those who have commented on Facebook and on Twitter – it would be nice to pull some of that discussion together here too. Anyone?

Malolactic Fermentation (indiancreekwinery.blogspot.com)
Wine Word of the Week: Malolactic fermentation (winepeeps.com)
Learn About White Wine Production: Part II (winepressblogger.com)

About Robert: Robert McIntosh is a wine blogger and online communicator on WineConversation.com, a prolific twitterer (@thirstforwine) and an occasional contributor to wine magazines as well as speaking at wine events. Robert is co-organiser of the annual European Wine Bloggers Conference and Born Digital Wine Awards, promotes international online wine communication, and advises companies about how to engage through social media. Robert also has some trouble communicating in the third person.

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http://lonelygrape.wordpress.com Shane

Malolactic Fermentation makes a difference in red wines (like from Mclaren Vale – South Australia). In Champagne ………..well that is a differnt thing. Well this is my new thing to learn for today!!!!
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http://www.winebottle.org.uk Michelle

Totally agree with you about this advert being a big fail, and you’ve got the reason why completely right – it’s all about features.

For me it’s a classic example of what can often happen with “luxury” brands. They get very caught up what makes their product so exclusive and start speaking in a way that only the most knowledgeable about their products will understand.

Great if you want to just hold on to your small exclusive clientele. Not if you’re looking to expand it.
http://jennie.100yen.co.uk Jennie

You know I said I didn’t know anything proper about wine but I knew all the stupid stuff? That’s the sort of stuff I know! Feeling pretty superior now… We also had a visit from Lanson; their black label was the only champagne I’ve ever liked. Yum. That advert would not make me want to drink it however…
http://winerant.blogspot.com/ Richard

It’s like distilleries bragging that their whisky is ‘oak aged’ – all whisky is oak aged. I think it’s more a case of lazy marketing rather than misguided marketing. The booze industry from top to bottom is full of marketing campaigns that highlight ubiquitous practices as unique guarantees of quality. Loads of houses halt malolactic fermentation. So while I don’t think it’s necessarily off-putting, it is lazy and sadly endemic throughout the trade.
http://www.pinotage.org Peter May

As a Champagne lover and someone who knows what malo means, this advert is spot on as to why Lanson is different.

I haven’t seen the advert myself so don’t know if its part of a series aimed at different markets.

Exclusivity is what Champagne is about.

As for saying that people won’t understand it — well maybe. But as we see on adverts or womens cosmetics, scientific gobbledeygook doesn’t put purchasers off.

PS – I don’t like having comments on the right, and I can’t see the right of the comments, the box is too narrow.
http://www.deadseamineraldeals.com/ Dead Sea Mineral Cosmetics

Just be careful of bottomless drinking…it’s not healthy.