France-based Pernod Ricard Group is a leader in global luxury wine and spirits industry, delivering brands such as Chivas Regal, Jameson Whiskey, Absolut vodka and G.H.Mumm champagne.

Prestige marketing isn’t just about classy shots of high-end products — you still have to follow the tried and trusted marketing methods that make people relate to your brand, says Niall Gately, trade marketing director at Pernod Ricard South Africa, in a BizCommunity interview.

Over the past 20 years, the company has grown in South Africa, promoting both the group’s international brands and managing local and regional brands such as Red Heart Rum and Olmeca Tequila. With headquarters in Cape Town and regional offices across the country, the company employs more than 270 people.

Here’s part of Gately’s interview with Bizcommunity.

From BizCommunity. Story by Leigh Andrews.

At the core of our business, it’s the authenticity and quality of our brands that is the most important value for all our consumers.

We are custodians of brands that are up to 300 years old. Many of our brands are the global leaders in their category and have been for decades if not centuries. They have incredible stories and above all unparalleled authenticity.

We don’t have to create brand stories out of thin air or fabricate brand values. They are there already. And all consumers regardless of their financial ability seek authenticity.

That said, one has to recognize that luxury consumers differ by virtue of their ability to afford the absolute finest, most exquisite and rarest expressions that we can make available. Some of these expressions and vintages never receive any publicity or exposure but are discreetly purchased and delivered away from the gaze of the media.

It is part of the business that is almost contra-marketing. It’s very real, very up close and very personal. Reminiscent in fact of the very earliest incarnations of corner shop/consumer connectivity.

And while ultra-high net worth consumers have the means to buy what they choose, they are not foolish. They know the value of something and when it comes to spirits and champagnes they are very discerning and very deliberate in their choices.

Even though there are different types of luxury consumers, from old money to new money, from long-term accumulators to in-the-moment indulgers, these consumers all ultimately want the same thing: the finest.

Upwardly mobile and millennial individuals aspire to discovering new experiences in life and new levels of living and insist on quality and authenticity.

Clearly millennials are known for their online connectedness and reaching out to these consumers digitally is important. But at some point the experience and interaction has to become tangible and ultimately, authentic.

Having said that, the shift to online is actually very appealing to us as a purveyor of low-volume luxury spirits and champagnes. It gives us the freedom to truly express the essence of our brands, to tell the stories behind them and to engage directly with our consumers in a way that traditional media can’t match. They are prepared to take the time to explore our brands and we can develop the one-on-one relationships we like to establish.

The upwardly mobile look to key influencers in their lives to give brand assurance and define social status cues but they are seekers and explorers in their own right.

We know they will find us. Our job always remains fundamentally the same. We produce luxury spirits and champagnes and we communicate with our consumers about these products. Things haven’t changed that much really in our world since we were supplying Louis XV with Martell Cognac for his social events at the Palace of Versailles during the 1700s. People are pretty much the same in many respects, and so too is the luxury business.

Read more at BizCommunity.