Hip hop not good enough for Cristal
Posted on 20. Jun, 2006 by Cassandra in Totally Whack
Here’s a simple way to totally screw up your brand and throw away access to billions of rands worth of free product placement.
Hip hop is full of praise for ‘bling brands’.
Reebok, Bentley, Prada, Gucci and Cristal are all brand names that are sewn into the fabric of the biggest artist’s lyrics and music videos. [Check out a full list on the American Brandstand]
News now - is that Cristal champagne doesn’t much care for the free publicity it receives from this rather influential crowd of gangsters and would prefer that they rather drink Dom.
In a special summer issue of The Economist magazine, Frederic
Rouzaud, managing director of Louis Roederer, said the company viewed
the affection for his company’s champagne from rappers and their fans
with "curiosity and serenity."
Asked by the magazine if the association between Cristal and the "bling lifestyle" could be detrimental, Rouzaud replied:
"That’s
a good question, but what can we do? We can’t forbid people from buying
it. I’m sure Dom Perignon or Krug would be delighted to have their
business."
Big time hip hop legend; Jay-Z has slammed the Frenchman’s comments, taken bottles of the bubbly off the shelves of his swanky clubs and vowed to never drink Cristal ever again.
Big mistake Cristal – you should have known that in 2006, the people shall decide how best they like your champagne. Now you have nothing.
American Brandstand – Agenda
Jay-Z leads Cristal boycott – CNN
4 Responses to “Hip hop not good enough for Cristal”
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sooo
20. Jun, 2006
How arrogant can they be. Amazing. Good for you, Jay-Z.
Ambuscher
21. Jun, 2006
Well done Cristal – I applaud the fact that for once a product remains true to its identity and doesn’t blindly follow ‘basic marketing principles 101′ to kiss ass. Bravo – trust the French to keep it real.
Martin
21. Jun, 2006
Assuming that Cristal’s goal isn’t to simply sell as many bottles of stuff as they can right now, but rather over the long-term, I’m afraid I partly have to agree with Ambuscher…
True, the immediate sales are tempting, but I think it’s also very easy to tarnish (and thus effectively reduce long-term revenue of) a traditional brand with mass consumption by (and thus by implication identification with) gold-hoop-wearing, overchromed-Bentley-driving, punk-ass, talentless ex-criminals.
Then again, maybe it’s just me having issues with rappers
Cherryflava
21. Jun, 2006
Valid points, but brands need to adapt to survive. It’s all very well seeing hip hop artists as good for nothing gangsters and rejecting them as a market, but what about the future longevity of your brand.
How many corporate suits buy Cristal because their favourite punk-ass mofo bitchin MTV video is pouring the stuff around like it’s beer. Now they’ve lost that association.
I can almost assure you that the intended Cristal target market has never even heard of Jay-z and most probably drink Dom in anycase.
I agree that Cristal shouldn’t kiss ass just to sell a couple more bottles of product – but don’t go and kick the ass of a group of people just because you don’t like the colour of their bling.