BROWN SPIRITS REPORT: RUM OVERVIEW


for the sector is the healthy incidence of those six rum brands that were ranked in positive growth within the IWSR top nine ranking – although again, some of these include both white and dark varieties. The brands that were all in growth


in the 2105-2016 ranking included Captain Morgan (+1.3%); Havana Club (+1.1%); Appleton (+32.1%); Zacapa (+4.7%); Brugal (+4.8%); and Bundaberg (+10.9%). Not surprisingly, one of the


most important and influential ambassadors for the dark rum category is market-leading Bacardi, which is traditionally associated with the global market number one Bacardi Carta Blanca (white) variety. However, Bacardi is also rapidly


gaining travel retail and duty free retail distribution for three of its lesser-known premium offerings, consisting of Bacardi Ron 8 years, Bacardi Limitada and Bacardi Maestro De Ron. This is without talking about


the Facundo range of four blended ‘sipping rums’, which Bacardi launched in very select domestic market retail locations three or four years ago. This collection was apparently


created specially from the family’s own private collections and is dedicated to the company founder, Don Facundo Bacardí Massó. [See interview with Bacardi GTR Regional Director – Europe, Aude Bourdier-Rocourt on page 170-Ed].


Learning from Cognac Talking to TRBusiness in an interview with Bacardi’s Chairman Facundo L. Bacardi and its senior management at the TFWA show last October, Bacardi GTR Managing Director Mike Birch couldn’t have been clearer about the company’s premiumisation ambitions when he said: “To push back a little bit, we have taken some big steps forward to premiumising the rum category. We also think it is one of the biggest opportunities for retailers to do the great job that the whisky and Cognac guys have done in rum [as well] as this would drive incremental business and it is fundamentally a huge opportunity.” Birch says it was definitely a big


MAY 2017


positive for Bacardi’s customers to be able to talk freely with Chairman Facundo at the show and he is now optimistic that he will attend again this year. At the same time he believes


that the rum category has great premium potential, as he explained in more detail recently: “Rum is the most versatile as a sipping high- end rum which is highly mixable and highly sociable. “With the rum category you have


the same love, passion and intrinsics that you have in all of the other popular categories like Cognac, so I think the fundamentals are there. “The fact is that it is a significant


smaller category in travel retail – as a percentage of sales – than it is in pretty much most domestic markets. But if you combine the fair share argument and the likely cyclical nature of these categories, rum will certainly have its time. “If you look at what’s happening


today, we launched single cane estate rums with Heinemann and that has shown that when you can talk to consumers about the equivalent single malt of rums they get it and you can build a really nice business there.” Birch also points to other premium


products in the rum category that are doing extremely well and growing very fast, including the company’s own recent purchase of


“With the rum category you have the same love, passion and intrinsics that you have in all of the other popular categories like Cognac, so I think the fundamentals are there.”


Mike Birch, Bacardi GTR


Ron Santa Teresa last January: “That is an amazing liquid and I think it can be a huge play for us in the long term and we also have other rums such as Banks, which is a fantastic brand, although it is not really there yet for GTR potentially. “The headline for us is that rum


is massively underperforming in GTR, although it does very well in a lot of other markets and perhaps an element of consumer profile means it does better in domestic than it does in GTR. “Then, of course, you’ve got the


number one Bacardi brand in rum both globally and in travel retail and anything that the rum category does is going to be driven by Bacardi, so hopefully the company will benefit as those things come through. “There are also quite a few good quality rum brands investing and growing in GTR, so I think it is just a matter of time.” [TRBusiness would like to thank IWSR


for allowing us to quote numbers from its most recent duty free and travel retail report-Ed]. «


The Bacardi range with Lagardère Travel Retail at Rome Fiumicino Airport. TRBUSINESS 169


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