In that regard, for Hennessy Classivm to be born in the Golden Age of cognac in China is remarkable. In a market where cognac sales were presently booming, while counterintuitive it’s all the more critical to be on edge. With an eye on the future and a resolve to be daringly innovative we helped push the boundaries of that market. Classivm was launched for a completely different demographic, one which had different tastes and played by completely different rules.
Staying one step ahead, we rewrote the playbook and established Classivm as the most vibrant and edgy brand in China’s brown spirits category. The edginess of our efforts really paid off when the strong growth of Classivm in the nightlife channel helped offset the impact of the 2013 anti-extravagance measures that precipitated a downturn in cognac sales nationwide.
To maintain its edge, Hennessy targeted markets dominated by whiskey products.
To compete with the overwhelming success of whiskey sales at clubs and lounges, Hennessy needed a new brand that would shed cognac’s mature image yet still appeal as a premium product to a younger target audience.
That target audience, China’s Gen Y and the first generation
to experience uninterrupted growth stability and prosperity, are
the world’s most enthusiastic customers and living life to the fullest.
Bold and expressive, they are a generation that wants to be heard.
The Idea: We created the tagline “I Can Shine” as a call to action to express yourself and stand out in the night life setting.
Since its inception in 2011 and during the early years of their soft launch, I’ve worked with the Classivm brand from creating video and interactive content to identity work and key visuals for themed events.
The magnum bottle launch exemplifies the scope of work commonly delivered for MOT events. I created a set of collaterals that featured oversized key visuals and silhouettes accentuating the scale, statuesque promoters heavily adorned with glowing tattoos, and party favours such as neon megaphones and giant hand clappers.
For its official full launch in 2013, I mapped out a year-long marketing campaign called “Turn On”, a purely digital play to drive traffic to outlets and on-premise events and update the “streets are our playground” brand aesthetic with a techno-chic skin.
The “Mega Event”, a live act featuring world class hip hop artists, dj’s, dance crews and X game performers, served as the halo event of the year for the brand. We created an interactive online platform to recruit the target audience to live stream the event via brand experiences.
I developed party themes, kv’s and collaterals to help Classivm own the festival platform, most notably Christmas and New Years Eve.
