We wanted to put (award winning!) bubbly in the baskets of shoppers.

Aldi’s PR Agency, Clarion Communications, wanted to speak to those ‘Champagne snobs’ who haven’t considered Aldi’s Champagne previously.

We had to create an activation that stopped consumers and media in their tracks.

Challenging their expectations on the brand and the product, our solution needed an activation that would cut-through the festive noise.

A campaign where the enjoyment of the product worked bottle-in-hand with a PR, Social and Media strategy (serious stuff!)

We decided to put the quality of Veuve Monsigny to the test, in a setting that people wouldn’t expect.

The idea? The Veuve Monsigny Champagne Bar.

Opened in one of the UK’s most expensive postcodes, a cork’s throw away from Selfridges and selling glasses of award-winning Champagne for just £2.33 a glass (seven times cheaper than Selfridges!)

Surprise and delight

Open for 5 days, members of the public were invited in to sample the Champagne, not knowing Aldi was behind the bar (naughty us…) and on tasting the product, some described it as ‘tasting like Moet & Chandon’.

Guests estimated a glass would cost £13.50, before being shocked as the brand was revealed as Aldi (the look on their faces!)

Adorned with teal velvet, brushed gold and marble interiors, premium frontage, beautiful lighting effects, and garnished with festive foliage, the ‘Veuve Champagne Bar’ had the ultimate in luxury décor.

Bubbly buzz

Georgia Toffolo (‘Toff’) from Made in Chelsea fame visited and spread the word to her 1.8million followers on Instagram, helping to drive media and social buzz, including coverage in the showbiz pages of the tabloids.

Veuve Monsigny was the top mentioned product in the media in December in a month that saw records broken for Aldi, as the likes of Chris Evans on Virgin Radio, The Independent, and Mail Online (twice!) spoke or wrote about it.

Coverage also included The Guardian, Metro, The Mirror, The Telegraph, The Grocer and Time Out (get us!)

Idea...

A premium, cork-popping, snob-silencing, queue-around-the-blocking Champagne Bar.

Impact...

-404 pieces of coverage

-1.5m Instagram views

-Record sales

-72 glasses sold every hour