Beverage Dynamics is the largest national business magazine devoted exclusively to the needs of off-premise beverage alcohol retailers, from single liquor stores to big box chains, through coverage of the latest trends in wine, beer and spirits.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/565520
www.beveragedynamics.com September/October 2015 • Beverage Dynamics 23 Brand SPOTLIG HT Q&A BD: How are you working with the trade to ensure your message reaches retailers, and ultimately consumers? RZ:: We have a complete marketing program, including brand ambassadors in key markets who educate consumers and work with retailers and sales forces on brand dedication. Our brand grows through recommendations, word-of-mouth and trial in the on-premise, so our brand ambassador job is key. We know we have two audiences – the consumers who try our brand and the retailers who recommend our brand. So we work to maintain the attention of both audiences. You can't just con- centrate on one or the other – we're very careful about that. BD: What's next for Edrington in the coming year? RZ: Right now our new launches are out. We have Rare Cask, which is the most-supported launch ever for us in the U.S. and the results have been fantastic. We have a product that retailers for about $300 and it's fl ying. We'll focus on that for the rest of the year for The Macallan. For High- land Park we just released Odin, which is the last expres- sion in the Valhalla Collection, and we're running out of product faster than we expected. Those two products are our key innovations for the year and we're very happy about how they've been received by consumers and the trade. BD "We're all about great people, great brands and always giving more." — Raul Gonzalez, Marketing Director, Edrington INDEPENDENCE PAYS OFF FOR EDRINGTON BY JEREMY NEDELKA It's been a full year since Edrington launched Edrington Americas, its wholly owned sales, marketing and distribu- tion company for the U.S. market. I talked to Raul Gonzalez, Marketing Director for single malts at Edrington, about the transition and what the company is working on next. BD: What has the past year been like for you and your team? RZ: Excellent. We've managed to not only start our own opera- tions and have all our distributor partnerships in place, but we did it while our brands maintained their growth. The Macallan is growing double digit year over year, so we're very happy with the results and excited about the future. BD: What differentiates Edrington from other spirits suppliers? RZ: I would start with our values. We're all about great people, great brands and always giving more. On our luxury brands, we have a very talented pool of individuals. We're very pas- sionate about our brands, and we don't publicize this a lot, but we partner with a number of charities around the globe. We're very proud of that. BD: Same question for The Macallan: What differenti- ates it from other Scotches? RZ: I would consider it the King of Scotch. There are several reasons I think that – it's the most premium Scotch on the market, plus it holds the record for the most expensive bottle sold at auction. It's also not comparable with any other brand's wood quality, since we have more than 90% of the Sherry oak casks in the whisky industry. That gives us a very different profi le, with a characteristic fl avor that's created using natural coloring. It's really unlike any other Scotch band. BD: What marketplace trends are most impacting the Scotch category right now? RZ: Consumers are searching for meaningful lux- ury – in particular younger consumers are div- ing deeper into provenance and history, caring more about the roots of the brands they con- sume. They want to understand not only how a product is made, but where it's made and what its intrinsic values are. Consumers searching for substance have defi nitely helped The Macallan become the brand we are today. Cask, which is the most-supported launch ever for us in the U.S. and the results have been fantastic. We have a product that retailers for about $300 and it's fl ying. We'll focus on impacting the Scotch category right now? Consumers are searching for meaningful lux- ury – in particular younger consumers are div- ing deeper into provenance and history, caring more about the roots of the brands they con- sume. They want to understand not only The Macallan become the brand we are today.