MORE LUXURY TO COME FROM BACARDI AND DIAGEO

Last week, at the 42nd Annual Impact Marketing Seminar, Bacardi North America regional president Pete Carr discussed the group recent acquisition of Patron Spirits for  $5.1-billion, a deal that lifts Bacardi from the fifth-largest spirits company in terms of U.S. market share to the second-largest.

Moving forward, Carr noted, 75% the company’s business will center on three brands, split between Bacardi rum at 22%, Grey Goose vodka at 26%, and Patrón at 27%.
Turning to Bacardi’s core rum brand, Carr used the occasion to unveil a revamped and expanded upscale portfolio, with new Reserva Añejo Cuatro and Gran Reserva Diez expressions set to join Bacardi’s Reserva Ocho and Reserva Limitada. “We’re placing a huge bet on rum premiumization,” said Carr. “Rum is the last category to premiumize, and we think there’s a $550 million category opportunity.”

Carr went on to detail efforts on several other top-performing Bacardi brands, including Cazadores Tequila and D’Ussé Cognac, and explained the turnaround strategy for Grey Goose, concentrated on plans to hold price, focus on the on-premise, and attract younger LDA and multicultural consumers to the high-end vodka franchise.

Meanwhile, Javier Ferrán, chairman of Diageo, spoke on the topic “Marketing Luxury Spirits In A Changing World.” According to Ferrán, several factors are set to drive luxury spirits growth in the coming years, including a consumer propensity toward “drinking better rather than drinking more,” and the ongoing rise of the middle class in emerging markets like Asia and Africa. He estimates that more than 700 million new consumers in emerging markets will be able to afford international spirits within the next decade.

He also noted the importance of consistently maintaining—and taking—price. “A key driver of perception of quality is price,” said Ferrán. “Luxury goods brand-building is a long-term game.”

Source: ShankenDailyNews.com

FRANCE DRINKS LESS COGNAC THAN THE PHILIPPINES

 

The Philippines is one of the world’s largest markets for brandy, with national company Emperador Inc., which owns Bodegas Fundador in Spain, now considered the largest producer of brandy in the world.

Southeast Asia is fast-growing its consumption of cognac with new markets such as Malaysia or Indonesia.

Source: TheStandard.com

GOOGLE WILL SELL ITS OWNERSHIP OF ZAGAT

 

Rating Zagat

Seven years after picking up Zagat for $151 million, Google is selling off the perennial restaurant recommendation service. The New York Times is reporting this morning that the technology giant is selling off the company to The Infatuation, a review site founded nine years back by former music execs.

The company had been rumored to be courting a buyer since early this year. As Reuters noted at the time, Zagat has increasingly become less of a focus for Google, as the company began growing its database of restaurant recommendations organically. Zagat, meanwhile, has lost much of the shine it had when Google purchased it nearly a decade ago.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/
https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/05/google-is-selling-off-zagat/

CUSTOMERS ARE ORDERING MORE UPSCALE DRINKS

 

I have ran across this article which is very relevant to today's economy and customer trends.
More updscale, more education, more choices ... essentially everyone needs to do more!

ON-PREMISE CONSUMERS ARE ORDERING BETTER QUALITY DRINKS MORE OFTEN
Source: Wine & Spirits Daily
https://winespiritsdaily.com/
March 5th

More consumers are consistently ordering beverage alcohol when they go out to eat. In fact, 84% of the 1,000 consumers surveyed in Next Level Marketing's annual report (conducted in February) said they are ordering alcoholic drinks nearly every time they go out, up 5% from last year's survey. With 87% of consumers surveyed ordering the same or better quality drinks, and just 6% saying they are ordering cheaper drinks.

The number of drinks consumers are ordering per occasion on-premise has consistently stayed around 2.2 drinks the last few years, and that number is a little higher among males and millennials. While consumers may not be drinking more per occasion, the number of occasions has increased. "People are drinking more often, better quality, but in the same amount each time," said Next Level Marketing's Mike Ginley at the VIBE Conference last week.

As for where they're drinking, casual dining chains are the most visited type of bars/restaurants among those surveyed, with local independent casual dining restaurants in second place. The main drivers of determining where to go are food quality, food and drink value prices and service. Beverage programs play a key role in determining where consumers want to spend their money on a night out.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD BEVERAGE PROGRAM?
The survey found that the top five key elements to a beverage program are: (1) good value prices, (2) happy hour specials, (3) great drink quality, (4) great beer selection and (5) drink specials and promotions. A bit lower on the list, you'll find great wine selection and great cocktail selection.

EXPERIMENTATION AND BRAND LOYALTY
Experimentation of new brands is "remarkably high" across beer, wine and spirits, with about 80% of consumers responding that they tried a new brand within the past 90 days, and about 60% tried a new brand in the past month, according to Mike. Though the general consensus is that consumers are less brand loyal these days, Mike suggested that many still are brand loyal based on the fact that consumers said they only consumed about 3 or 4 brands in total over the past 90 days across each category.