Brown-Forman Global Travel Retail marks two decades in the travel retail business with a new stand and new products for next month’s TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes (Beach Village B06).
BenRiach, GlenDronach, and Glenglassaugh single malt Scotch whiskies and Slane Irish whiskey join the Brown-Forman portfolio.
Scotch Master Distiller Billy Walker and Slane Irish Whiskey Founder Alex Conyngham will be at the show, along with Master Distiller and recent Whiskey Hall of Fame inductee Chris Morris.
Brown-Forman Global Travel Retail Managing Director Marshall Farrer and Old Forester Kentucky Bourbon President Campbell Brown will detail new developments at a joint press conference on 3 October.
Senior executives at the Brown-Forman corporate headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky, decided to formally engage in the global travel retail business in 1996.
Farrer commented: “By the mid-1990s, Brown-Forman was just beginning to fully appreciate and embrace the business opportunities outside of the USA.”
He noted that two decades ago the majority of Brown-Forman’s business was in the USA.
“At the time the company really didn’t have a full appreciation for travel retail and the far-reaching brand-building opportunities the channel presented [apart from] a slight appreciation for the cruise channel in the Caribbean,” Farrer said.
In 1996 veteran duty free executive Richard Ferne was hired to spearhead the company’s development in global travel retail. Ferne was then based in Hong Kong and relocated to Louisville in early 1997.
Brown-Forman said travel retail has grown “exponentially” in the past 20 years. Global travel retail is one of the top six revenue-generating regions for the company, with a team of more than 40 duty free staff members working in the channel around the globe.
Farrer contined: “Over the past two decades, the Brown-Forman Global Travel Retail team has been guided by some remarkably talented and far-sighted leaders. These individuals – Richard Ferne, Patrick Moran and Jim Perry – made a number of key and insightful decisions and retained a remarkably talented staff in countries and regions critical to travel retail.
“They made Brown-Forman GTR what it is today. It is now our opportunity to take our fine brands even further in travel retail through the excellent partnerships we have developed over these years.”
The Brown-Forman portfolio includes the Jack Daniel’s family of brands, Woodford Reserve and Old Forester Kentucky bourbons, Collingwood Canadian whiskey, Slane Irish whiskey, BenRiach, The GlenDronach and Glenglassaugh single malt Scotch whiskies, as well as Herradura and El Jimador tequilas, Finlandia vodka and Chambord liqueur.
