Where does a Prestige brand go when it wants to raise its profile? To Miami during Art Basel, of course. This is precicely what Perrier-Jouët did during Miami’s famous Art Week. For jet setters who went to all the right parties, the brand was ubiquitous, showing up at fairs, events and parties via exciting build-outs, chic presentations and, of course, in champagne flutes.
It started over a year ago with a global initiative by Pernod Ricard to turn Perrier-Jouët into a lifestyle powerhouse. To accomplish this goal, Pernod Ricard brought on Jason Kim and Allison Luvera to spearhead Prestige Marketing for Perrier-Jouët. Kim was a spirits industry veteran with a knack for branding who had been integral in the successful launch of Double Cross Vodka, and was founding executive with the brand unil 2014.
“Perrier-Jouët is a beautiful, high-quality Champagne brand that has been around for more than 200 years, but we wanted to shake its image. We want people to think of it as something to drink on a great night out, not just at a wedding or very special occasion,” says Kim. Adding that he feels, “PJ is a brand with a lot of legs,” which is industry speak for a lot of potential.
“Our goal was to own Art Basel,” says Kim. So they started with the first place most visitors go in Miami—the airport—and outfitted MIA’s Terminal D with a Perrier-Jouët experience with free-flowing bubbly.
“Art Basel is a playground for luxury brands, the perfect intersection of art and commerce, product and design,” says Kim. “Every year, there is always a sexy new kid on the block. Last year it was Edition; this year we knew Faena would be the belle of the ball.” The luxurious property is at once exciting and new, but with a flair of old-world glamour, creating a perfect synergy between the brands. A branded pop-up full of wondrous installations named L’Eden de Perrier-Jouët was assembled in the hotel’s expansive penthouse. “That was the flagship centerpiece for art week, but we had many more activations throughout Miami,” says Kim.
This included Design Miami, a long-time partner of the brand, which featured a Perrier-Jouët lounge at the fair, and poured the bubbly at their remarkably well-orchestrated 500-person dinner.
Perrier-Jouët was the drink of choice at Haute Living’s plethora of events, as well as activations at SLS, the Delano, The Miami Beach Edition, and the new Nautilus hotel. They worked with brands, institutions and outlets including Hublot, Cartier, Artsy, Silencio, MoMa and Interview.
Where PJ wasn’t, another one of Pernod Ricard’s fun brands, Absolut Elyx, was. They made their mark on the fair in a fun vintage truck, which had been converted into The Elyx Water Truck Boutique stocked with their famous copper pineapples. It’s safe to say that Pernod Ricard’s vision of owning Basel was executed with aplomb. The results of this kind of takeover may be aimed at the hearts and minds of its target demographic, but there was an immediate uptick in sales at dining and nightlife hotspots too. “Friends called me telling me they saw a lot of bottles of PJ everywhere—on tables at nightclubs, chilling next to tables at the best restaurants,” says Kim with a sense of accomplishment. Clearly, fair-goers wanted to have a little more Perrier-Jouët at their second, third and even fourth locations of the night.
Keep up with their adventures @perrierjouet on Instagram.
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