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Courvoisier is hoping some star power -- and a dash of lemonade -- can inspire drinkers to kick off their evening with the French brandy.
The brand's new "Bring Your Own Courvoisier" ad campaign, starring actress Karrueche Tran and fashion stylish and influencer Bloody Osiris, debuts this week and will run on social channels including TikTok and Instagram. Directed by filmmaker Mark Anthony Green, it is the first major ad blitz backed by Aperol maker Campari since it paid $1.2 billion to acquire the cognac brand from Suntory Global Spirits in a deal that closed last year.
Allison Varone, the head of marketing at Campari America, tells me in a virtual interview that Courvoisier is a brand that has high awareness, but that much of the affinity for the cognac comes from the 1980s and 1990s. "People know the brand, but we want to reintroduce it back into their repertoire," says Varone.
To reacquaint drinkers with the brand, Campari hopes to entice more casual and daytime drinking occasions. Since the pandemic, consumers have been shifting their drinking more to brunch, the park, and other outdoor occasions in the daylight, and less late night partying. There's been a notable shift away from late night clubbing, a trend that's also correlated with Gen Z drinking less alcohol than prior generations. Lighter cocktails, often led by spritzes, have been more on trend.
That's a pivot away from high octane moments that many have associated with Courvoisier over the decades, encapsulated in the late-night party music video for rapper Busta Rhymes' popular 2002 hit "Pass the Courvoisier."
"Consumers have moved to lighter occasions, casual occasions, and daytime occasions," says Varone.
To that end, Courvoisier has been focusing on a lighter cocktail, mixing the cognac with lemonade. The mixture is depicted in the ad and held by Tran as she toasts with Bloody Osiris, who has a Courvoisier on the rocks.
Another element of the "Bring Your Own Courvoisier" campaign is a series of more informal, early evening gatherings that the cognac brand will host throughout the year, inspired by the French culinary tradition called "dînatoire."
Campari's big marketing plans to reintroduce Courvoisier comes at a particularly challenging time for the cognac category. Cognac posted record growth in 2021 and again in 2022, but shipments tumbled by 22% to 165.3 million bottles, according to the industry's decision-making body the Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac, and only grew by less than 1% in 2024.
The "Big Four" cognac houses -- Courvoisier, Rémy Martin, Hennessy and Martell -- have faced geopolitical challenges in two of the industry's most vital markets. A trade dispute between China and France has badly bruised sales for the industry's titans, while in the U.S., import tariffs on many European goods -- including cognac -- have been an ongoing challenge. The industry also had to work through elevated stockpiles of cognac in the U.S. after demand spiked during the pandemic.
"There's a very evolving situation right now within the industry, so we're watching it very closely," acknowledges Varone. "But our strategy is really to just lean in on making sure that the brand is relevant to our consumers, relevant in culture, relevant in their everyday lives and making sure that Courvoisier is part of their repertoire."