Ralph Lauren Grows Q1 Revenue Using Increased Marketing Focus

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Ralph Lauren reported that its net revenue for Q1 Fiscal 2019 increased by three percent to $1.4 billion, driven by sales in Asia—a key growth region—and Europe. The fashion brand credited this growth to a renewed focus and investment in its marketing efforts across digital channels, putting consumers at the center of everything. On its earnings call, Ralph Lauren CEO Patrice Louvet said that the company would continue executing its five-point strategy, which includes:

  • Winning over a new generation of consumers
  • Energizing core products and accelerate underdeveloped categories
  • Driving targeted expansion in its regions and channels
  • Leading with digital
  • Operating with discipline to fuel growth

The company increased its marketing investment by 20 percent compared to last year, focusing mainly on its Spring Polo campaign featuring white Polo shirts, leading to global sales and double-digit growth in the menswear category. The company continues to engage with a younger generation of consumers by relying on celebrity influencers who wear its products at key events such as Wimbledon. Launching CP93 limited edition collection with callbacks to its roots in the Americas Cup sailing race amplified the Wimbledon sponsorship while elevating the brand’s voice overall.

“Our goal is to recruit millions of consumers into our brand each year,” said Louvet. “To achieve that, we’re continuing to increase our marketing investment and shift our standing to digital channels that matter most to consumers today.”

According to Louvet, as the official outfitter for Wimbledon, the company was able to increase its reach across digital channels and social media through celebrity influencers such as actress Poppy Delevingne, who took over Polo’s Instagram story to share her “stylish take on Wimbledon.”

In total, Polo generated over 6 billion impressions globally, and the company will continue leveraging entertainers, athletes and other influencers to represent different aspects of its brand.

Ralph Lauren expressed its consumer focus with a pop-up custom shop with exclusive prints at Wimbledon, emphasizing how customization energizes its core product offerings. Similarly, the company’s small format store at the Beverly Center in Los Angeles has a “create-your-own” shop that makes up about 10 percent of its sales.

Louvet said that international growth was a priority for the company, with mainland China being its largest near-term opportunity for growth. Ralph Lauren continues to grow rapidly in this area, driven by digital commerce platforms such as Tmall and WeChat.

“This growth was supported by targeted marketing through social media and influencer engagement,” said Louvet, adding that the company is on track to reach half a billion dollars in revenues over the next five years in China.

In Europe, the brand partnered with online retailers with digital campaigns that showcased the versatility of its Polo shirts. The campaigns worked to significantly increase the Polo brand visibility, which drove sales. Japan saw a sticker campaign on its popular messaging app Line, which more than tripled Polo’s followers in the region.

Given the global successes it found, Ralph Lauren intends to increase its marketing investment by high single to low double digits with incremental growth in the second quarter to amplify its upcoming 50th-anniversary fashion show. Long-term marketing investments will be comprised of roughly five percent of sales.

Louvet concluded by saying, “As we execute our next great chapter plan, we are encouraged by our early progress and the continued improvements in the underlying trends in our business.”

‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’ Focused Marketing On Video, Partnerships

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Mission: Impossible – Fallout topped the box office this weekend. The marketing was concentrated on partnerships and video—the latter including dramatic stunt work, 360-degree video and, of course, Tom Cruise.

The sixth film in Paramount’s Tom Cruise-led Mission: Impossible franchise earned $61.5 million domestically its opening weekend and another $92 million globally.

Marketing for M: I Fallout focused on spectacle, producing behind-the-scenes footage of the film’s considerable stunt work—especially by 54-year-old Cruise who doesn’t appear to be slowing down any time soon. BMW, the exclusive automotive partner for the franchise since 2011, provided several vehicles and marketing campaigns that highlighted chase scenes and its new M5 model.

Buzz quickly spread about one stunt in particular. The HALO (high altitude, low open) jump required Cruise to jump out of a plane flying 25,000 feet in the air and stop exactly three feet in front of a camera mounted on a skydiver’s head in a very short window of light. According to director Christopher McQuarrie, landing the shot took weeks, ultimately requiring 106 jumps—all while Cruise recovered from a broken ankle.

Paramount also released a 360-degree video that placed viewers inside a helicopter cockpit flown by Cruise.  Together with stunt featurettes, audiences were drawn into the high-octane world of Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his crew as they fight for their lives—with style, of course.

“I think the more you can involve the audience, the better,” Karie Bible, film historian and box office analyst for Exhibitor Relations told AList. “Given the immense popularity of social media and particularly Instagram, audiences want to feel a level of involvement and participation. Films are not just a spectator sport as it were. Audiences (particular younger demographics) like to post and discuss the movie or experience of a movie with their friends. The more they do, the more exposure a film receives.”

Universal leaned on Cruise’s stunt work to promote The Mummy, as well, turning a zero-gravity maneuver into experiential marketing for fans. VR and 360-degree video have become a popular means of film promotion, with studios producing content for Jigsaw, Star Wars: The Last Jedi and The Meg just to name a few.

All those stunts are even bigger on an IMAX screen—26 percent more, in fact. Since M: I Fallout is specially formatted for IMAX theaters, a video spot asked the film’s stars a series of questions based on “26 percent more,” such as “Would you rather be 26 percent stronger or faster?” In addition, a time-lapse video showed how the historic Palais de Chaillot theatre in Paris was transformed into an IMAX theater.

Paramount invested primarily in video content and was one of the first to test Pinterest’s Promoted Video at max width—displaying M: I Fallout videos on users’ home feeds, following tab and in search on mobile devices. A video spot was also produced for ESPN that mashed NBA star James Harden into footage of M: I Fallout before Cruise performs the aforementioned HALO jump.

Of course, every summer blockbuster needs its star, and Paramount knows it can rely on Tom Cruise. The veteran actor boasts nearly 10 million followers between Twitter and Instagram and is active in promoting his latest ventures. In January, Cruise posted, and ostensibly announced, the title of Mission: Impossible Fallout and quickly garnered over 423,000 likes on both platforms.

Cruise may have considerable box office draw—especially in China where the film opens August 31—but star power isn’t enough to ensure a film’s success, noted Bible.

“I think all films need considerable marketing efforts,” she said. “There are so many things competing for attention from streaming services, television, video games, live events, etc. People have so many options that studios have to market heavily to get audience attention.”

CMOs Anticipate Budget Increase Over The Next Year, Study Says

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A majority of chief marketing officers expect their budgets to increase over the coming year, but how that money is spent continues to evolve, according to Dentsu Aegis Network’s first CMO study released Tuesday.

The digital marketing firm conducted a global survey of 1,000 CMOs and senior-level marketers from across ten markets and across industry sectors. Across the board, Dentsu Aegis found that CMOs intend to work less with external marketing agencies over the next few years while investing larger budgets on data that will reach consumers on a personal level.

Respondents agreed that growing the business is their primary role and turn to digital channels as a solution. More than half of CMOs surveyed plan to increase investments in digital media platforms over the next two or three years, the study found. The ability to use data to reach real people, rather than proxies or customer segments was listed as the number one strategic opportunity for marketing professionals.

Data is a double-edged sword for marketers, however, who named a data breach or misuse of consumer data as the number one strategic risk. Consumers expect more from advertising while trying to avoid them altogether, forcing marketers to walk a line between data privacy and personalization. In fact, almost half of all CMOs say that consumers’ intolerance for advertising will be one of the key barriers they expect to face when building relationships with consumers in the next two to three years. In the face of increased data regulation, CMOs won’t have it easy. Sixty percent of CMOs believed that data protection regulation such as GDPR would make it harder to build a direct relationship with the consumer, especially among respondents working in the financial sector.

Building a healthy relationship with ad tech companies is seen as an opportunity, as well as a central element of CMO strategy in the future, Dentsu Aegis found. Unsurprisingly, respondents said that integrating brand engagement and commerce/conversion will be an important part of marketing strategy in the next few years.

Achieving success will take teamwork, but not all CMOs agreed on which teams would be a sound investment. A third of CMOs say they intend to work less with external marketing agencies over the next two to three years, while nearly half plan to increase the number of marketing specialists they retain.

“The speed of growth and the variety of new channels through which brands can engage consumers is astonishing,” wrote Nigel Morris, chief strategy and innovation officer for Dentsu Aegis in the report. “Many brands are guilty of letting the tail wag the dog—of allowing a short-term preoccupation with digital detract from long-term brand-building. As with any innovation, these tools need to be considered in the context of a brand’s long-term strategy and as part of an integrated marketing mix that address all phases of the consumer lifecycle.”

User-Generated Video Content A Win For Advertisers, Says Study

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Originally published at VideoInk.

Jukin Media released results from a research study exploring the effectiveness of the use of organic UGC (user-generated content) in advertising. The study, which was conducted in partnership with The University of Southern California Master’s Program in Applied Psychology, revealed that ads which utilize UGC were perceived as more memorable, unique, engaging, authentic and relatable than traditional video ads.

UGC, as the study defines it, are “videos [recorded] by real people—not celebrities or influencers—and captured on personal devices such as camera-phones.” The findings from the study, which included more than 500 US adults ages 18-54, suggests that UGC provides an authentic way for brands to connect with consumers. Here are a few key findings from the report:

  • User-generated ads were perceived to be more memorable (31 percent), unique (+28 percent), authentic (11 percent), engaging (+5 percent), and relatable (+8 percent) than traditional ads
  • Six-second user-generated ads were 55 percent more likely to be described as unique, and 42 percent more likely to be described as memorable when compared with traditional (or non-UGC) six-second ads
  • Ads featuring UGC garner 73 percent more positive comments on social networks than traditional ads
  • Ads that feature videos that are relevant to the advertised product scored significantly higher for positive affectivity in focus group participants

The researchers noted that in the focus group portion of the study, many of the research subjects who were exposed to ads with UGC congregated around the idea that the ads seemed “relatable” and “authentic.”

”Capturing and harnessing real, authentic moments is incredibly powerful,” said Jukin Media Founder and CEO Jonathan Skogmo. “In recent years the advertising community has begun to embrace UGC for the authenticity that it lends to brand campaigns, but there was little hard data around its effectiveness.”

Skogmo believes that the study confirms what Jukin has been saying for years—that consumers respond favorably to seeing ads that incorporate stories of real people in real-life situations.

“You cannot re-manufacture these organic moments captured by everyday people,” adds Skogmo.

Even before the study, businesses have slowly started to incorporate user-generated content into their video advertisements. Companies that have been quick to utilize this type of content include Subway, Google/NCAA, Dignity Health, Kay Jewelers, Advil, Credit Karma, and Samsung.

For those looking to incorporate UGC into their advertising strategy, the report notes a few things to look out for:

  • Because UGC is captured “out in the wild,” rather than on a sound stage or set, many potentially damaging items can appear in UGC videos. Trademarks, personal likenesses, and sometimes unexpected things like buildings and landmarks need to be cleared depending on your project. Consult a clearance professional or a firm who will indemnify you of any potential liability.
  • Don’t assume that just because a person posted a particular video on social media that they are the rightful owner of the video. Videos are often copied and re-uploaded to the web by third parties that have no claim to the copyright. The rightful copyright holder is the only person who can legally grant a brand permission to use a UGC video in a campaign.
  • Don’t expect viral success. Like any ad, the goal should be to make an impression on your target market. If your ad gets shared organically, that’s a bonus.

On Brand: Deloitte’s Suzanne Kounkel Discusses Changing Role Of CMO

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When Deloitte’s chief marketing officer in the US, Suzanne Kounkel, imagines the company’s future, she sees a brand that stays true to its core principles despite the technological and cultural changes shaping the world. She describes that core as being rooted in inclusion, which drives the multinational company’s creative process, and a multidisciplinary approach toward serving its clients. Although Kounkel doesn’t believe that there will be a dramatic change to the Deloitte brand itself, she does think that the marketer’s role will continue to evolve, impacting the company’s activities as different technologies impact the world.

The CMO’s Evolving Role

“I certainly believe that the role of the CMO has changed dramatically over the past couple of years,” Kounkel explained, speaking with AList. “There has always been technology to enable marketing, but one of the really dramatic changes is that it now involves more of the enterprise technology footprint.”

To adjust for these changes, CMOs need to increase communications with other members of senior leadership, including the CIO and CFO. Kounkel describes the new CMO role as “being the instigator, responsible for growth in a way that historically hasn’t been the case.”

More specifically, marketing is becoming less about creating leads and more about proving the ROI of campaigns. Although creativity remains at the core of the role, technology is making a major impact. Additionally, while the technology in and of itself is important, she said that leaders must think about what marketing processes they enable, as CMOs are becoming increasingly responsible for the brand experience for both customers and employees.

According to Kounkel, the notion of employees has also changed, because there are the employees that are housed within the company’s walls and there are those who are part of the broader ecosystem. She said, “As the CMO, I care a lot about that in my role, but we also do that work as a firm for our clients, and it is very much top of mind for them. In today’s world, the notion of what an employee is is changing dramatically, and the pool of talent has become more critical.”

Kounkel said that CMO infrequently own all of those components, but they need to be involved with their implementation and orchestration to support the brand. She also stated that Deloitte’s goal is to “push at the forefront” by using industry insights to help its clients harness the power of new—and sometimes scary—technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) to create value in their markets.

“The world is changing, so we’re all in the business of change and keeping up with it by becoming different and better leaders.”

Casual Connect Is Coming Back To Serbia

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Casual Connect will return to Eastern Europe to capture the region’s independent game-dev energy in an event designed to provide a bridge between Western and Eastern companies. At Casual Connect Serbia 2018 all attendees get access to three days of lectures and workshops, official networking parties, the expo area and the world’s best indie games with developers at the international Indie Prize showcase. Attendees will also get unlimited access to the meeting system to network with games industry professionals.

For Developers

More than 1,500 developers apply to the Indie Prize during the year. Judges from throughout the gaming industry select the most promising games to participate at international Indie Prize showcases during Casual Connect conferences. Submit your game for the international Indie Prize Serbia 2018 scholarship program before August 1. More details are in the submission form.

The scholarship includes two free Standard passes to the conference, a spot in the showcase and free accommodation for up to two developers from each team during the conference at the indie hostel with other indie developers. The number of beds in the hostel is limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

If those don’t fit, you can join industry leaders as an established developer with Developer showcase or support this great event as a sponsor with 50 percent off Gold, Silver and Bronze.

For Funding Publishers

Get more exposure at the expo area with a booth or meeting table and 50 percent off Gold, Silver or Bronze sponsorship packages.

New Delegation Package

CGA recently launched a new program that will make it simpler for government and non-profit organizations or just a group of up to 10 developers to join Casual Connect with a special Delegation package rate.

Since 2005, Casual Connect has brought together the most talented and knowledgeable experts in the gaming field to further the industry—combining the best learning and networking opportunities for gaming professionals four times every year.

Casual Connect Eastern Europe 2018
Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel Belgrade, Vladimira Popovica 10, Beograd, Belgrade 11070, Serbia
Date: October 1-3, 2018
Attendees: 800+ gaming professionals
Speakers: 80 executives and experts
Indie Prize Showcase: 40 finalists

The full schedule for Casual Connect events in 2018 can be seen here.

For any questions please contact Yuliya Moshkaryova at yuliya@cga.global or on Facebook.

Diageo Launches Dynamic Ad Campaign That Reacts To Time And Weather

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Diageo is offering consumers different reasons to grab drinks throughout the day with its newly launched outdoor ad campaign. Signs located at parks, bus stops, subway stations change hourly in accordance to certain triggers—which include the weather, temperature and time of day—to promote its Gordon’s and Tanqueray gin brands along with Captain Morgan, Smirnoff and Smirnoff Cider in London.

For example, if it’s morning a sign may read, “Sun’s out, gin’s out.” Then it will switch to, “Too busy for a 5pm G&T? Not that busy,” when the sun sets. Other trigger events include a Smirnoff Cider sign that will show near parks when the temperature hits a certain level, with more datasets to be revealed.

According to Diageo, these outdoor signs are optimized hourly by location to the nearby audience to “stimulate consideration and purchase.” The dynamic signs will run three days a week, Thursday to Saturday, through December as a supplement to the company’s other out-of-home activities.

“Out-of-home always features heavily on our media plans because we value its brand building qualities and the rich creative canvas it provides, but the innovation we are seeing in the medium now means it can now offer so much more,” said Anita Robinson, European category director at Diageo, in a statement.

“Digital technology and dynamic scheduling allow us to be more agile and responsive than ever in terms of when and where we activate campaigns for our portfolio of brands while also providing significant business benefits from booking out-of-home at scale.”

Developed in partnership with Posterscope, the dynamic sign campaign represents “the most sophisticated and complex portfolio campaign” the location-based marketing specialist has ever done, as it maximizes the benefits of digital out-of-home advertising. The goal is not only to establish an overall presence for Diageo, but have one that can react to key moments for each product throughout the rest of the year.

Domino’s Secures Pizza Market Share With Tech And Travel

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Domino’s introduced a Snapchat Lens over the weekend that allowed users to order pizza without leaving the app. The activation continues an ongoing trend of Domino’s using technology and convenience to secure its place at the top of the pizza market.

The pizza brand surpassed Pizza Hut earlier this year as the market share leader with a 17 percent hold of the quick-service pizza business. Domino’s has taken significant strides in terms of customer approval since its recipe overhaul in 2010. A contributing factor is the adoption of technologies likely to be used by young consumers and those on-the-go.

This week, Domino’s launched a Snapchat campaign that used an AR lens to order pizza. Taking a selfie with the front camera overlaid sunglasses with a reflection of pizza in the lenses. Using the back camera superimposed a virtual Domino’s pizza box that opened to reveal a pepperoni pizza. From there, users could tap on a call-to-action button, requesting delivery without having to leave the app.

Domino’s has added over 200,000 “hotspots” around the US where pizza can be delivered outside of a business or residence, such as a park or sporting event. To help promote the use of this new feature, Domino’s introduced a contest on Monday that offers round-trip accommodations to any hotspot city for two days. The promotion is open to Piece of the Pie Rewards members only.

Speaking of delivery, the pizza brand launched a campaign called “Paving for Pizza” in June that repairs local roads. Fixed potholes in each city were spray painted with a Domino’s Pizza logo and the words, “Oh yes we did.”

A virtual pizza-ordering assistant named Dom was introduced in 2014 and Domino’s began a test in April to see if human phone operators could be replaced with the AI. Dom also serves as the voice of the brand’s pizza tracker, informing customers about the progress of their order.

“We believe natural voice recognition is the future, as seen by the rise in virtual assistants, such as Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home,” said J. Patrick Doyle, Domino’s president and CEO, in a statement. “More importantly, artificial intelligence provides great learning platforms that will enable us to do more to deliver convenience for our customers and better job experiences for our team members.”

Doyle went on to say that the brand hopes to become 100 percent digital in the future. Generally speaking, online delivery in the US is expected to account for 54 percent of gross merchandise volume this year, according to NPD and Cowen, Inc. Domino’s has been an early adopter of digital integration, placing it at an advantage over competitors. The brand’s largest competitor, Pizza Hut (through parent company Yum! Brands) took a $200 million stake in GrubHub earlier this year, adding even more pressure for Domino’s to stay ahead of the digital game.

As Brand Safety Concerns Grow, Marketers Taking Action

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In today’s digital environment, brand safety is more challenging than ever. From fake news to other questionable content, advertisers are being forced to be more careful and cautious in navigating their media supply chain.

Brands like Cisco and Sonos recently had to pull their ads given brand safety concerns and these are only two examples among dozens who have had to do similar in the last year. Interestingly, social media—where most of these issues have occurred—has also made it even more likely that brands appearing alongside unsavory content will be called out in real-time. Every miscue is now under the spotlight, instantly challenging a brand’s reputation. So how is the industry dealing with it?

To dive deeper into the state of brand safety, Oath recently partnered with Advertiser Perceptions to poll more than 300 U.S. ad execs about their concerns. Most are taking the actions necessary to ensure the integrity of their brands. But there’s more that can be done. Here are three critical findings every marketer should know.

Brand Safety Concerns Are Growing

According to the findings, the overwhelming majority of advertisers—99 percent—worry about whether their ads will appear in brand-safe environments. Additionally, 58 percent of advertisers are more worried about brand safety this year than they were last year. We’ve even seen that manifest at Cannes Lions, where some glamor was replaced with more sobering discussions about trust.

It’s up to ad platforms and media partners to win over the confidence of advertisers. Tech platforms—including demand-side platforms (DSPs) and exchanges—are most effectively addressing advertiser concerns. Seventy percent of advertisers feel that DSPs and exchanges do a satisfactory job dealing with these problems. A recent focus on vetting inventory—think high-quality content that is professionally produced—plus efforts to tackle fraud and viewability issues is having a positive impact. But advertisers are split when it comes to other media partners.

Fifty-one percent feel that social media platforms do a good job, while 45 percent think there’s space for improvement. What’s more, only 54 percent of advertisers feel that user-generated content (UGC) sites address their concerns, while 42 percent say they don’t. Clearly, social platforms have a lot of work to do given the nature of their inventory—UGC that is not developed professionally and often distributed without quality controls.

Brand Safety In Action

With brand safety now a major issue among advertisers, they’re having to change their programmatic buying strategies. Half of the respondents we surveyed say they’re pressuring their partners to screen for brand safety, while 45 percent are shifting their ads to premium publishers with good reputations. This has created a massive opportunity for high-quality media brands in their efforts to lure ad spend away from Facebook and Google.

Additionally, 40 percent of advertisers now use whitelists with programmatic partners, and 44 percent find blacklists to be an effective method. Whitelists and blacklists both use a combination of in-house and third-party tools to monitor where ads are delivered and prevent ad misplacement in advance. Across owned and operated sites, contextual targeting can also help prevent advertisers from coming in contact with unsafe content.

Lastly, of all the advertisers we polled for our study, only 3 percent say they have no actions planned to combat brand safety. With the way things are trending now, these advertisers might want to rethink their strategies so that they don’t run the risk of threatening their brand.

Partners Need To Lead

The big takeaway from our study: advertisers are concerned—and ad-buying platforms and media partners need to lead on brand safety. In order to minimize risk, partners need to take more reasonable and effective steps such as manual and automated vetting, installing whitelists/blacklist capabilities, incorporating pre-bid filter systems, bringing on third-party auditors and developing a comprehensive takedown policy. Social media networks have the most work to do because these channels mainly rely on user-generated content—making brand safety inherently challenging to manage.

Brands have never been more important and marketers spend billions each year to raise awareness and build brand love with their customers, but it only takes one misstep to change consumers’ minds. That’s why concern about brand safety issues has reached a fever pitch.

In this environment, content publishers and platforms will continue to feel the pressure to bear the responsibility to address brand safety concerns and provide effective solutions. The good news is that brands and agencies are sensitive to the problem and are grappling with it in a number of ways. It will be interesting to see how this growing concern about brand safety changes the advertising industry moving forward.

Jeff Lucas is head of Americas sales and global teams at Oath. In this role, he manages Oath’s sales teams in the US, Canada and Latin America as well as global teams including RYOT Studio and agency partnerships. Before his current post, Lucas was the vice president and global head of sales at Snapchat and prior to that served as the head of marketing & partner solutions at Viacom.

Nicolas Feuillatte Partners With Cirque Du Soleil For Immersive Champagne Experiences

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Nicolas Feuillatte has become the first official Champagne partner of Cirque du Soleil, hosting luxury guest lounges and “immersive” experiences beginning in September.

The Champagne brand joins Hennessy Black as an official alcoholic beverage partner in an exclusive, multi-year contract. The partnership includes an interactive area called the Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte Lounge where Cirque du Soleil guests will be served Champagne and hors d’oeuvres. The lounge will feature an “immersive” experience, Nicolas Feuillate announced, although details were not provided and the company was not available for comment at publishing time.

In addition to the lounge, Cirque du Soleil will serve Nicolas Feullate Champagne at concessions at more than 800 annual performances in the US and Canada through the year 2020. Shows will include Cirque du Soleil Volta, Luzia, Amaluna and Alegría.

Partnering with Cirque du Soleil is in keeping with Nicolas Feullate’s ongoing campaign theme, “Enchantment Awaits.” Beginning in September, the brand’s marketing campaign will include a new website and visual rebranding in the US.

“Both Nicolas Feuillatte and Cirque du Soleil were founded on the strong ideals of constantly reinventing ourselves and creating moments of awe and inspiration,” said Christophe Juarez, CEO for Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte in a press release.

The US became Nicolas Feuillatte’s largest export market last year, although the brand slipped seven percent in terms of cases sold. A high-profile partnership such as this may aid in brand awareness, especially around emotionally-charged outings like the theater.

While it is the youngest of the major Champagne houses, Nicolas Feulliatte is the fourth best-selling Champagne in the world. The brand has plenty of competition, too. The American market has been the leading export market in terms of value three years running, according to data from Champagne, France.