Adgully Exclusive | We are promoting responsible social drinking: ABD's Chaturvedi

Over the years it has become fashionable, especially among wealthier people, and thus gave rise to the whisky in India.

Since then India now has around 24 brands, and nine manufacturers. One of them is Allied Blenders and Distillers Ltd., (ABD) which has made its mark as one of the successful manufacturers in the country. It's the third largest spirits company in India.

Ask Roopak Chaturvedi, Director, Sales & Marketing, Allied Blenders & Distillers and he would tell you that the success mantra of the ABD is that it is constantly evolving itself.

And with new Jolly Roger Rum, ABD aims to extend its reach. "We had launched Jolly Roger in the month of May. The brand was launched in three states -- West Bengal, Assam and Orissa. So Jolly Roger has been in the market in these three states for around one to one and half months now," explains Chaturvedi.

"We thought of initiating the launch of our brand from these three states because firstly, the rum market segment is growing in these states. Secondly, these three states have significant rum markets.

"Moreover, we wanted to gauge diverse consumer views, and these three Eastern states were apt to meet this requirement. We are looking forward to garner 10 per cent of market shares from these three states and over a period of six to seven months we will be rolling out the brand across all states," he reveals.

Targeting an age group of 25 to 35, product has a Jamaican flavour in it. "Our campaign speaks of the Jamaican spirit. The tagline for the brand is "Get higher on life....man!".

"The entire campaign has been shot in Jamaica, in the campaign there are people playing different kinds of music instruments and enjoying their life. We have highlighted the Jamaican aspect because Jolly Roger is the only rum in India with a Jamaican blend. Since Caribbean islands are known for rum that's why we chose to go for Jamaican blend," he says.

"Our brand is a premium brand and the target group will be around the age group 25-35. We thought of coming out with a premium brand because we found out through research that 64 per cent of rum drinkers are actually first time drinkers.

Moreover two per cent of rum adorers and nine per cent of the people, who moved to the whiskey segment, would want to come back, if offered something new.

"Therefore, we not only wanted to give a premium brand with an international packaging, but we wanted to peg it a little higher with higher pricing and superior product experience. Our brand is priced a bit higher than other rum brands in India, and the pricing will be different in different states," he adds.

Manufactured in Kolkata, Guwahati, and Bhubaneswar, ABD also imports Jamaican rum for the blend. Not surprisingly they decided to launch their campaign from Kolkata. The campaign is led by outdoor campaign and has been backed with radio.

In India where alcoholic beverage advertising is banned, Chaturverdi feels that drinking is something that an adult individual makes. "If you are a sensible corporate, you wouldn't want to promote irresponsible drinking. So through advertisements one is just trying to build a status to a brand. We are promoting responsible social drinking. By talking of a brand in a surrogate manner, one is building up the brand identity. Surrogate advertising just promotes the brand and does not promote drinking," he says.

ABD is using all forms of media to aggressively promote its brand. Chaturvedi feels that besides television, radio and print, digital media will play a huge role in promoting brands.

"Digital media will play a huge role in promoting brands in the future. People as of now are 24*7 on digital platforms, either on Facebook, Orkut or Twitter. Besides it has been found that India is going to be a young country for next 20 to 25 years.

"Hence any platform that will appeal to the youth will help. TV will always be an important medium, digital medium will be the next best option and a toss-up between outdoor and radio will prove to be conducive. Print is not very helpful for premium brands because it is still a medium used in the lower SECs, surfing online and internet usage is for higher SECs," he explains.