P. Diddy's Back w/Cristal, Jay-Z's Still w/Armand & the Luxury Market Doesn't Seem to Care

In the wake of Jay-Z's Cristal champagne "boycott" of June 2006, which quickly became an opportunity for other companies to court rappers and for people who couldn't afford Cristal to express their outrage, I suggested that the tactically limited boycott might not have a seriously negative effect on Cristal champagne or on Champagne Louis Roederer, the French makers of Cristal.  In fact, I believed that it might actually be a positive move for Roederer to disconnect from overt associations with hip hop.

This view was taken as rather preposterous by other hip hop bloggers, all apparently with little direct knowledge of the luxury market, who just couldn't wrap their heads around the idea that an association with hip hop might be bad for a luxury brand.

Soon thereafter my suggestions found support from experts including industry researchers such as Richard Woodard:

"Richard Woodard, contributor to industry bible www.just-drinks.com, is researching a major report on the premium champagne market. He says: 'Cristal has almost got to the point where it has a downmarket image. It gets looked down upon because of all that gangsta rap stuff. Frankly, a lot of wealthy people don't want to identify themselves with that culture.'"

And in a widely quoted piece from Advertising Age it was suggested that other brands might benefit though Cristal was unlikedly to suffer:

"Rapper and Def Jam Records President Jay-Z's much-hyped boycott of Cristal isn't likely to cost the vintage champagne brand any dead presidents, according to beverage industry experts."

According to documents available from the Luxury Institute, in late 2006 Cristal champagne was rated the number 2 brand after Dom Perignon, a position it held again in early 2008.

Though the Luxury Institute did not have a 2005 survey for comparison, no mention is made of the hip hop boycott nor is there a suggestion that the boycott affected rich people's judgment.

A variety of signs suggest that Roederer's larger operations felt no sting.

From the fall of 2006 through today, Roederer has continued to expand with the acquisition of wine properties worldwide, the ongoing consideration of new acquisitions in such seemingly unlikely locations as England and long-term investments in their U.S. facilities.

Though I'm still working on accessing actual sales figures with the help of J. Jesus Ruiz and hope to find out more specifically if Cristal saw any negative effects at all, I do find it significant that P. Diddy has left the boycott behind.

In preparation for the recent Super Bowl festivities:

"Nearly every last bottle of Cristal in the state of Arizona has been snatched up on behalf of music mogul P. Diddy, who is hosting a blowout bash tonight at Club Axis/Radius, organizers say. 'He's hoarding all of it,' the distributor for the AZ Wine Co. told The Post. 'Cristal is hard to get anyway, but with the Super Bowl in town, it's impossible.'

Club organizers say they hope the 100 bottles now on hand are enough.  'I have been stockpiling all year for the Super Bowl, and especially for the P. Diddy block party,' said Jeff O'Neil, general manager of Axis/Radius.

VIPs at the event will be able to buy Diddy's stash of Cristal at $800 a popped cork."

So Diddy's back with Cristal, whether they like it or not, and Jay-Z is now associated with a lesser product, Armand de Brignac champagne, via product placements in the videos for Show Me What You Got and Blue Magic plus a 40/40 Club photo opp with Beyonce.

You may recall that Armand de Brignac is a champagne that was introduced in a fraudulent manner to the American market for which it was designed.  Apparently they're trying again, though the champagne is not getting good reviews and I was informed in December by a Wikipedia editor that someone who appeared to be an associate of the U.S. distributors was attempting to game Wikipedia in 2007 as they had in 2006.

Though this may seem like ancient history to some, it's another great example of how easy it is to pierce the veils of hip hop business fantasy by simply paying attention to the details, not being swayed by widely held assumptions without supporting evidence and checking back at a later date.  Think what could happen if full-time business journalists took hip hop seriously enough to regularly follow through with their superior resources.

But that vision takes us back to the realms of fantasy where rappers and hip hop "businessmen" would be held accountable for their boastful claims of realness and success.  Till then, enjoy the Emperor's New Streetwear!

Comments to: clyde(at)prohiphop(dot)com

Previously at ProHipHop:
ProHipHop Coverage & Analysis of Jay-Z's Cristal Boycott
ProHipHop Coverage of Armand de Brignac Champagne