- Celebrity tie-ins and brand ownership are an essential feature for driving brand awareness.
- Champagne houses in particular actively cultivate collaborations with famous people to drive their brand image.
- The ‘Creator Editions’ by Dom Pérignon
The world of fine wine frequently crosses paths with celebrities. But while estates are often keen to recruit the rich and famous to their cause, a celebrity-designed label does not guarantee a brand’s success on the secondary market.
In recent years the influx of celebrities into the drinks industry appears to have gathered pace. Kylie Minogue, Sir Ian Botham and Cameron Diaz are among those who have launched wine brands under their name.
And this is to say nothing of the growing number of famous faces behind an array of rums, gins and Tequilas.
Dom Pérignon’s marketing collaborations
The most obvious celebrity association in fine wine is with Champagne. The houses are highly aware of their brand power and have the marketing budget to cultivate and project their glamorous image, which often includes enlisting the help of the rich and famous.
Dom Pérignon has collaborated with a rolling parade of artists, performers and famous figureheads around which it builds new marketing campaigns each year – usually for the latest vintage release.
These collaborations began in 2005 when the brand crossed paths with House of Chanel’s then creative director, the late Karl Lagerfeld. Further collaborations with David Lynch, Björk and Lenny Kravitz followed and Lady Gaga is the current face of the brand.
The full list of these partnerships and the vintages involved can be seen in the table above. However, the question is whether these stars have the pulling power to move the market.
The price premium of celebrity wines
Looking at the chart above, it becomes apparent that the ‘Creator Edition’ versions of Dom Pérignon often carry a premium over their ‘standard release’ vintages.
For example, the two vintages released with Andy Warhol inspired labels (the 2000 and 2002) carry premiums of over 40% compared with the same wines without the multi-coloured labels. The Lenny Kravitz 2008 vintage is also 33.0% more per case than the standard 2008.
There are a couple of exceptions. Both the blanc and rosé wines with the Björk & Chris Cunningham labels for example are cheaper than their normal counterparts.
But having a premium or even the association with fame doesn’t translate into market demand. The Dom Pérignon 2008 ‘Lenny Kravitz’ for example has not traded as much as the standard 2008 (see charts below).
Dom Pérignon 2008 performance: Lenny Kravitz (left) and standard (right)
Liv-ex analysis is drawn from the world’s most comprehensive database of fine wine prices. The data reflects the real time activity of Liv-ex’s 560+ merchant members from across the globe. Together they represent the largest pool of liquidity in the world – currently £100m of bids and offers across 16,000 wines. Independent data, direct from the market.
Not a member of Liv-ex? Request a demo to see the exchange and a member of our team will be in touch with you shortly.
