BROWN SPIRITS REPORT: BACARDI GTR Such ‘tasting parlance’ was rarely
afforded to dark or golden rums outside company tasting rooms in the past and Rocourt acknowledges that the category has a lot of catching up to do. “As I said, that was our fault as the
leader in rum and we should have done this earlier, but now we are really doing our job and it is working very well. “Our task now is to educate people
about rum, because for some it is punch and cocktails, but we know there are a lot of consumers who are actually becoming rum connoisseurs. We have done some activations and gained a lot of traction with these premium offerings.”
Work in progress Asked whether she feels the company has been able to convey this message to its travel retail partners, Rocourt admits it is still work in progress, but she remains optimistic. “We do have a tough job with
retailers to go from the old image of rum for the young ones, to a product like whisky where you have got thousands of shelves, explanations and ages and so on. In rum this is still
very limited. So we do have a huge education job to do with our retailers to gain a decent shelf category.” Having said this, Rocourt is
encouraged with Bacardi, which is now able to gain dedicated fixtures for its three aforementioned premium rum products, whereas five years ago there were virtually none. Of course, she also acknowledges
the ‘amazing’ Bacardi-produced rums called the Facundo Range, although this is exclusive to the Americas for now. She also acknowledges that there
have been internal discussions on whether the company should make this ultra-premium quality range available in Europe, but she believes it is still a little too soon: “In Europe we are still working
with these other premium qualities so I think going straight to these super high qualities might be a little too much of a jump for now.” One new development to
watch is Bacardi’s recent new global distribution contract with Venezuelan rum producer Ron Santa Teresa – signed last January. This also complements the
Bacardi weighs up huge brown spirit potential
Bacardi has been ‘seriously focused’ on the duty free channel now for more than two and a half years, with DF&TR now accounting for just under 10% of total group sales and still ‘a big dollar’, according to Chairman Facundo L. Bacardi. Taking time out to talk to TRBusiness
at last year’s TFWA Cannes show, he said Bacardi is now beginning to view the category the way that the perfume and cosmetics industry does, as he believes ‘they really have figured it out… they understand the value of it.’ Similarly, Chief Marketing Officer
Europe, Shane Hoyne confirmed to TRBusiness that the company is already committed to both elevating and premiumising rum: “We are going to continue to not only premiumise Bacardi within rum and there will be lot more in a period of time on that. “But I think what we see here is a
fantastic premium initiative and we are going to keep pushing it… it is
MAY 2017
in our DNA.” The global travel retail team led by MD
GTR Mike Birch is also at the heart of this and he was similarly definite about the great opportunity that sits in Bacardi’s portfolio. 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.” As Birch says, besides its formidable
white spirits interests, Bacardi also owns the Otard Cognac brand, which has huge potential, as well as Dewar’s Scotch whisky and a wide range of single malt whiskies that have already begun to make their mark. A good example is the recent accolade
afforded to the John Dewar’s stable- owned Craigellachie 31-year old single malt which was awarded the ‘World’s Best Single Malt’ status in the prestige World Whiskies Awards 2017 presented by Whisky Magazine (on 30 March at London’s Waldorf Hotel). This was also no fluke, since
Left to right: Mike Birch, Managing Director GTR, Facundo L. Bacardi, Chairman, Mike Dolan, CEO, and Chief Marketing Officer Europe, Shane Hoyne.
Craigellachie 23 year-old also received the ‘Best in Show’ award at the San Francisco World’s Spirits Competition in 2015 – the most respected and influential international spirits event in the United States.
TRBUSINESS 171
The Dewar’s Whisky Emporium at Schiphol Airport in November 2016.
company’s earlier acquisition of the Mauritius-based Banks Rum brand in mid-2015. Currently the producer sells
around 200,000 cases of its higher-end aged varieties and also has sales of around 1.5m cases in its home market. «
“We have done some activations and gained a lot of traction with these premium offerings.”
Aude Bourdier-Rocourt, Bacardi Global Travel Retail
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