Blended Scotch Brands Innovate, Premiumize To Find New Audiences

While blended Scotch whisky has seen a slowdown in the U.S. lately, marketers point to premiumization as a saving grace, with some super-premium and luxury brands or expressions bucking the downward trend. On the whole, that premiumization trend is continuing this year. Scotch whisky exports to the U.S. were down 3.5% to £421.4 million ($552.74 million) in the first half of this year, according to the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), with volume slipping 7.6% to 4.6 million cases.

“We remain optimistic and predict a return to growth as the U.S. market continues to normalize,” says Kristen Colonna, vice president of marketing accelerator and brand marketing at Pernod Ricard USA, which imports Chivas Regal and Royal Salute. “Blended Scotches can offer greater complexity and more scope [than single malts] for experimentation.” This fall Royal Salute debuted a new 21-year-old Harris Reed Edition ($300 a 750-ml.), while Chivas’s recent new product activity includes a French oak-finished 15-year-old ($50).

“Consumers are continuing to explore and embrace the category and are looking for better options, and we continue to see growth in the more premium segments where our brands sit,” says Josh Dean, vice president of Johnnie Walker and Buchanan’s at Diageo North America.

“For Johnnie Walker, consumers’ desire to premiumize is a critical driver for growth,” notes Dean. Johnnie Walker Blue, the brand’s longstanding luxury line extension, is a key vehicle. Blue Label is now the official spirits partner of the 76th Emmy Awards. “Our partnerships this year, spanning culinary arts, entertainment, and fashion, center around collaborations to help reshape people’s perspectives around traditional whisky tropes,” he says.

For Buchanan’s, Diageo is seeing new consumers embrace the brand’s flavor innovation. “Creating new product innovations like Buchanan’s Pineapple and expanding flavor based on consumer trends and insights also shows the unique way our category can innovate to resonate with consumers,” says Dean.

Bacardi-owned Dewar’s was recently backed by a new campaign, “Here’s to the Story,” and also added a luxury 38-year-old expression ($2,200 a 375-ml.) to its Dewar’s Collector’s Series. “The new campaign shows that good stories are best shared over a glass of Scotch, and that the greatest are shared over a glass of Dewar’s,” says Brian Cox, vice president of Dewar’s for North America. “It sharply repositions Dewar’s in a more super-premium brand world of quiet luxury.”

Blended malt brand Monkey Shoulder, part of the William Grant & Sons portfolio, has been a growing player within the category, more than doubling volume over the past five years to above 100,000 cases. “Monkey Shoulder is shaking up the whisky landscape, especially in the super-premium blended Scotch category,” says brand manager Giulia Friedman.

Maurice Doyle, CEO of blended Scotch specialist Compass Box, says the current category downturn is cyclical in nature. “It will rebound. I’ve been in the industry long enough to know these things go in cycles,” he observes. “The brands that do the right things in bad times have accelerated growth when the sun comes out. I think people will continue to drink less, but better, and that plays into what Compass Box is all about.”

Tagged : Bacardi, Buchanan's, Chivas Regal, Compass Box, Dewar's, Diageo, Johnnie Walker, Monkey Shoulder, Pernod Ricard, Royal Salute, William Grant & Sons

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