Pernod Ricard is one of India’s biggest wine and spirits groups. With a portfolio comprising 240 premium brands available in over 160 countries, it is a global leader as well. Popular brands under Pernod Ricard include Absolut, Ballantine’s, Chivas Regal, Malibu, Jameson, Imperial Blue and Seagrams. The company has just launched its latest addition to the portfolio – Longitude77, the first premium single malt whiskey made in India, for India and the world. Storyboard18 caught up with Kartik Mohindra, CMO, Pernod Ricard India, to understand the market for single malt in India, the marketing and advertising strategies that are undertaken to promote liquor, and the key trends to watch for.
Edited excerpts.
There are quite a few established players in the single malt category in India. How does Pernod Ricard plan to stand out?
I think the Indian single malt space has seen a very exciting time over the last three to four years. I mean, there are many players foraying into this segment. I think it’s lovely because I think the bigger opportunity individually and collectively would be to see if we can really showcase to the world that India can be a force to reckon with when it comes to single malts or whiskeys of Indian origin. There are a lot of players coming in with very interesting product stories, and we wish them the best.
Single malt is a popular choice among consumers. What are the marketing strategies you will be employing to help Longitude77 establish itself as a worthy competitor in the Indian market?
As the name suggests, we want to represent the cultural diversity and richness that India has to offer with the name Longitude 77, which is India on the global map. The Longitude runs from Kashmir in the north all the way down to Kanyakumari in the south. That’s basically the storytelling that we have and that has been the real pivot behind which our entire brand has been crafted. Therefore, we have painstakingly created a liquid. It has been maturing for four years in bourbon casks and finished for another year in wine casks to come out with the top of the pile Indian single malt that there is. We believe that it will be the epitome of Indian single malts. We are going to be targeting the discerning upper end of the single malt consumers.
What are some of the trends you have witnessed this year in the alcoholic beverage market and what are the new trends you expect will emerge next year?
Indian consumers are more outgoing. They believe in different occasions. They believe in experimentation. They believe in drinking less but drinking better. There is a lot of responsibility there. They believe in mixology. The Indian consumer is becoming very diverse. So, it’s a difficult job to be a marketeer. But it allows us to experiment with many different opportunities, occasions, flavour palates, etc. How it’s going to pan out in the future is that premiumization is probably the biggest—one of the biggest trends that’s going to happen. Consumers are going to keep trading up. They are also going to keep experimenting.
And from being a very male-centric business, women are now a big part of our consumer franchise. They are very particular in what they have. They are even more focused towards premiumization, whether it’s wines, whether it’s white spirits, whether it’s single malt.
Do you see any major changes in surrogate advertising in the future? How will that category evolve?
I think surrogate advertising is a thing of the past. I think brand extension-led advertising is the way to go, which is predominantly allowing manufacturers to leverage the equity that they have built on … having gained the trust of the consumers at large, to also diversify and expand their horizons into categories beyond AlcoBev. It’s not surrogate advertising. It’s about brands extending into different product categories. We believe that the consumer doesn’t look at brands from a very singular lens anymore and there are enough and more adjacent categories that can benefit from the equity that has been created.
How has demand changed for single malts this year? Has it increased, reduced, or remained the same and why?
Single malts is one of the fastest-growing categories or segments within the whole AlcoBev or particularly whiskey space. It’s witnessed growth in the last three-year calendar years upwards of 25%, both the imported single malts, and the Indian single malts, again significantly faster in growth than the rest of the category. Now, India remains the largest whiskey market in the world, and regardless of newer categories becoming more in vogue, the consumer does tend to gravitate back to the whiskeys, the scotches. Single malts remain the epitome of whiskey conversation. As the consumer matures, as the premiumization curve goes up, they feel that single malts as a category are for them, they are more discerning, and they are aficionados.
How big is the market for alcoholic beverages in India? Can you share some numbers?
According to the IWSR 2022 report, India is now the number one market globally for whisky, rum, and brandy. And while the global alcoholic beverage market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 1-2% by volume and value in the next few years, the Indian market expects a growth rate of 6.8%; up even more in premium plus segments, such as whisky, where stats point to a whopping 61% growth.
How do you categorise the market for premium liquor in India? How do you cater to these segments differently?
I think we can very broadly classify these into ‘Made in India’ products, ‘Bottled in India’ products, and ‘Imported products. Made in India as the name suggests, are entirely made—some of them are blended with scotch. Bottled in India means the product is entirely made in Scotland but bottled in India. And of course, imported means the entire finished goods comes in from outside. But these three represent a very different place in the whiskey pyramid. We are keeping in mind the Indian audience, quite Made in India-centric as a category, which represents a significant size of the business. Therefore, that consumer is different, and we have customised tailor-made marketing initiatives behind each of our brands to cater to the ever-evolving consumer landscape. Same goes for the scotches. Now, as India is premiumising, these are the ends of the business that are seeing significantly faster growth than the Indian side of things. This is also where the consumer tends to experiment a fair bit. It is still whiskey-centric, but this is where we see a lot more emergence of different categories and the consumer believes in repertoire consumption, so they will endorse their scotches, but they will also on occasion gravitate towards a tequila or a vodka or a gin or wines for that matter. Again, this is becoming yet another very fascinating space because it is not homogenous by any stretch of imagination, and it requires a very sharp and close watch on the evolution of the Indian consumer and try to cater to the specific needs on different occasions with a whole portfolio of brands on offer.
What is on Pernod Ricard India’s to-do list for 2024?
I think the to-do list would be that we need to keep staying ahead of the curve. The consumer is evolving very rapidly. Global trends are fickle. You will have one category being in vogue and being replaced by another. So, I think fundamentally keep a very sharp perspective on consumer needs; make sure that our marketing plans are, let’s say, customised towards these emerging cohorts and these emerging needs; we have arguably the best or the widest portfolio in the world—make sure it is well represented in each and every segment that there is, Made in India, Bottled in India, or in the Imported Brand segment.
Finally, I think consumers are now starting to seek a far deeper level of engagement with brands and it’s up to us as marketers to be able to create those relationships, to build brand love, and it means having a robust data strategy to learn, to experiment, to get insights and trends and have a two-way communication with consumers. I think the rapid pace of evolution means we as marketers need to be far more nimble than ever before.
What are Pernod Ricard India’s marketing plans for next year, what will be the areas of focus?
The marketing plans would be largely centred around the upper end of our business, which is, let’s say, riding on the premiumisation curve. Again, each brand needs to carve its own special niche and differentiation in there and then go after it with eclectic campaigns or activations, etc. In addition, there is also a massive rise in the ‘Made in India’ or ‘Pride of India’ concept, which is where the Indian single malts are, let’s say, gaining from. We are in the process of ramping up our distribution and we will be very well represented across key markets next year and then go on a high-decibel campaign.
And of course, another emerging trend from the consumers would be the no or low categories. We have Jacob’s Creek Unvined, which is a dealcoholised wine, doing very well. We also have Jameson Ginger Ale, Absolut Mixers. These are all no category alcohols but represent a very interesting addition to the consumer journey.