CHINA. Hennessy has welcomed in the Spring Festival and Chinese New Year in spectacular style by creating a series of immersive spaces and selected travel retail pop-up stores in Hainan.
Hennessy, the world’s largest Cognac house, chose the festive occasion to express Chinese New Year’s wishes through personalised gifts and accessories and enhanced customer experiences.
To honour the Year of the Ox, each retail environment has been adapted in the spirit of ‘Spring’, a specially commissioned artwork by the world-renowned, award-winning Chinese artist Liu Wei.
Hennessy Chinese New Year Limited Editions of Hennessy V.S.O.P and X.O reprise the rich, sensorial color palette of the artist’s work. They echo the tasting experience of Hennessy Cognacs while conveying a desire for joyful reunions and brighter horizons, the brand house said.
In addition to the Sanya Hennessy flagship boutique within the CDF Mall in Haitang Bay, three dedicated pop-up stores — with China Duty Free Group (CDFG) at CDF Mall, Hainan Tourism Downtown Duty Free Shopping Complex (Hainan Tourism Investment Duty Free Co & Lagardère Travel Retail), and Haikou Meilan International Airport (CDFG) — offer an engaging shopping experience. Each features unique thematic décor and playful, creative opportunities to personalise decanters and festive accessories and share Chinese New Year’s greetings.
Hennessy customers can stop by a Wishing Station and choose from a selection of colourful tie-on gift cards and fun stickers for personalising the decanters, gift boxes, shopping or travel bags, telephone cases and other items.
An interactive dispensing machine at the pop-up stores provides added excitement for customers by elevating their luck this Chinese New Year and inviting them to unveil mystery boxes containing prizes.
Central to each space is a poetic red Wishing Tree: hung with lanterns and a ‘selfie swing’, it can be adorned with messages in gold ink, photographed and shared across social media.
Dedicated digital platforms including a campaign microsite and a Hennessy WeChat mini program offer customers a chance to interact with a virtual Wishing Tree and participate in festive lucky draws. They can also enter a a TikTok challenge to win a limited-edition prize, plus redeem e-coupons for a chance to earn a miniature Hennessy V.S.O.P or Hennessy X.O with every purchase.
The celebration revolves around local culture with curated Chinese New Year cocktail and local food pairings through a series of mixology ateliers (workshops). Customers are welcomed to book an atelier session and the decanter engraving service via the mini program.
Targeting the traveller before, during and post the trip
Once back home, customers can continue the Hennessy experience through cocktail recipes, food pairing recommendations and other tips for enjoying the house’s Cognacs. A built-in feature of the digital platforms also encourages customers to ‘Share Your Hennessy Moments’ on social media with specially created festive emojis.
Livestreaming events in collaboration with popular social media personalities and a media partnership with UnionPay further enhance the engagement experience by connecting with Hennessy fans.
In addition, customers traveling between Shanghai and Hainan are invited to special treats when they make a prior reservation through the Hennessy WeChat mini program or at BLENDS by Hennessy [a unique and experiential hub of Cognac culture opened in Shanghai’s iconic BUND 18 building last November -Ed].
After their arrival in Hainan, these Mainland customers get to enjoy a tasting of the prestigious Hennessy X.X.O inside the Haitang Bay flagship boutique, while a signature cocktail at BLENDS by Hennessy will be waiting for them upon their return to Shanghai.
Despite a passenger traffic slowdown in Hainan in January following the Chinese government’s cautionary announcements in the wake of new COVID-19 clusters in parts of northern China, traffic picked up in February and the Hennessy Chinese New Year 2021 results are proving very successful with positive sales growth, the company said.
And it’s not just about sales. Visibility has been excellent with close to 22 million exposures across various digital touchpoints such as Yizhibo livestreaming events, WeChat/Red/Weibo posts, and UnionPay presence; plus a 500,000 strong social engagement.
Outside of Hainan, Hennessy is also bringing the engaging celebratory experience to customers in Macau – a traditionally highly popular destination for Mainland travellers.
Hennessy noted: “In the current context of the travel retail industry, the effort from Hennessy to leverage the opportunity and craft a tailor-made experience for Chinese travellers is a prime example of the brand’s commitment to make Hainan shine bright not just for Hennessy but the category. This is only the start in Hainan for the wine & spirits category.”
Footnote: As revealed by The Moodie Davitt Report late last month, Hennessypartnered with Chinese consumer platform TripurX to launch an O2O WeChat Mini Programme in celebration of Chinese New Year.
The Hennessy WeChat Mini Programme — launched through TripurX – targeted travelling shoppers in Sanya, Haikou, Guangzhou and Shanghai and featured a selection of Lunar New Year-themed Hennessy expressions.
The innovative O2O campaign featured online pre-order, customised digital services, exclusive in-store experiences, localised digital banners and a lucky draw.
