WILLIAM GRANT FOCUSES ON GROWING TOTAL WHISKY CATEGORY THROUGH CATEGORY MANAGEMENT INITIATIVE

William Grant & Sons seeks to take a leadership position within Global Travel Retail as the ‘Category Captain’ for Single Malts. “We see a real opportunity to become the go-to supplier in terms of offering the most impartial and considered advice that can help to grow the entire whisk(e)y category and generate positive returns for our partners,” says Justin Weston, Managing Director GTR.  “To this end we will be focusing on our single malt selection at the show in Singapore while preparing to unveil some extremely exciting news for our core blended Scotch brand, Grant’s, at TFWA World Exhibition in October. We have employed our first GTR Category Marketing Manager, Sarah Catton, who will help us embed a category led approach across the team and play a critical role in leveraging our position across the channel.

Says Sarah: “With Glenfiddich, The Balvenie and now Kininvie we have a leading position within single malts.  This is a critical and fast growing, high value category. For continued success and long term growth we need to develop category management solutions that help to grow the entire category, not just our brands. These solutions must be shopper and consumer-focused and help passengers navigate easily and effectively through what can be a complex and confusing assortment. This will mean working closely with the operators to secure a fair share of space for single malts in store. Done well we can help increase average spend per head and generate more profit for both ourselves and our partners. We have seen very positive results already through this approach and our Category Management principles are something that I look forward to discussing on stand during the TFWA Asia Pacific show.”

“We have been highly active over the last 20 months in terms of releasing new travel retail exclusive ranges for our key brands; the global rollout of the new Glenfiddich Cask Collection range started in April 2014, to join The Balvenie Triple Cask range and this has been supported by several other travel exclusive products including Glenfiddich 25 Year Old, Kininvie 17 Year Old, The Girvan Patent Still 28 Year Old as well as several limited edition and seasonal gift packs,” adds Carrie Morrison, Marketing Manager Single Malts & New Product Development GTR.

“This trend will continue in 2015. With the recent acquisition of Drambuie and the plans we have to develop new GTR offerings for both our Tullamore DEW Irish Whiskey range as well new news to come concerning Grant’s Blended Scotch we fully intend to play an active role in the channel for many years to come,” she says.

Regional Director Asia Pacific GTR Scott Hamilton concludes: “We are beginning to offer a true Travel Retail range offering across our portfolio.  But to be able to best present the products that we now have we also have to offer international passengers something new and unexpected in the form of highly innovative brand activations.  Hendrick’s has led the way for us in this area and has proved that outstanding theatrical activations help build excitement and drive footfall into the stores.  By doing this we give our brands, and our retail partners who are offering them to passengers, the best chance for success.  Match that level of excitement to great packaging and highly giftable exclusive products and you start to create a truly compelling offering. This effect can be further maximized if you can control an entire area of the store and have it dedicated to our brands. This is part of the reason we are so excited to have now opened our first ever dedicated branded shop in shops for Glenfiddich and Hendrick’s with DFS at Changi and look forward to seeing the results that they can produce.”

William Grant & Sons – Stand N19 Basement 2

Notes to Editors

    * William Grant & Sons is an independent family-owned distiller founded by William Grant in 1886 and today still controlled by the fifth generation of his family.  The Company distils some of the world’s leading brands of Scotch whisky, including the world’s favourite Single Malt Glenfiddich, the handcrafted range of The Balvenie Single Malts, the world’s most reclusive malt Kininvie and the world’s oldest family blend, Grant’s, as well as selected other spirits, including Hendrick’s Gin, voted the ‘World’s Best Gin’ by the Wall Street Journal, Drambuie Scotch Whisky Liqueur, Tullamore DEW Irish Whiskey, Milagro Tequila and Monkey Shoulder Blended Malt Whisky

         Visit www.williamgrant.com for more information on the Company and its brands