Diageo has noted the success of what it has described as its biggest ever investment in travel retail, the Johnnie Walker Explorers’ Club Collection, as it prepares to launch the third bottle in the series.
The Royal Route will be shipped to global duty free outlets in June and is expected to appear in stores in July. As with the first two editions, The Spice Road (launched in October last year, priced at US$43) and The Gold Route (launched in April 2013, priced at US$95), The Royal Route will become a permanent addition to the Johnnie Walker travel retail portfolio – and, importantly, will remain exclusive to travellers.
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Diageo GTME Commercial Director Peter Jacobsen (left), Managing Director Roland Abella (centre) and Regional Director of Global Travel Asia Rudy Paoli present The Royal Route |
Diageo Global Travel & Middle East (GTME) Managing Director Roland Abella reported that the first two editions had generated combined sales of more than one million bottles to date.
The Explorers’ Club Collection is a key aspect of Diageo’s travel retail strategy of premiumisation through differentiation, and Abella said that he was proud of the consistent hard work his team had put into maintaining that strategy.
“[The project] has reached our expectations,” he said. “Now our execution standards will have to continue to get better and better.”
In keeping with the other two products in the Trade Routes series of the Explorers’ Club Collection, the latest instalment evokes the travels that the Walker family and its agents made to establish the Scotch whisky business around the world. The Royal Route is said to evoke the exotic gifts laid before royal families by returning explorers and merchants – with a nose of fresh fruits, cinnamon and a hint of oak, a complex palate of chocolate flavours and long, smooth finish.
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The Royal Route and the entire collection are supported by a big investment in in-store merchandising |
The Royal Route will be priced at US$149, and features a design and a balanced flavour profile intended to appeal to women as well as men. Abella and new Diageo Regional Director of Global Travel Asia Rudy Paoli said that the aim of increasing the brand’s appeal to women reflected their empowered position in the modern world – a cause in which Diageo takes an active stance – as well as the mixed-gender nature of many drinking situations.
Diageo GTME Commercial Director Peter Jacobsen said that while The Royal Route was the last launch in the Trade Routes series under the Explorers’ Club Collection umbrella, the supplier had not ruled out further extensions under the main umbrella collection.
Paoli added: “Diageo does not finish a project with the launch of the product. We will continue to support the activation in stores, for The Royal Route and the whole collection.”
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Paoli, five weeks into his travel retail role, introduces The Royal Route |
Abella also took the opportunity to introduce Paoli – just five weeks into his new role – to the travel retail trade. Paoli’s experience in his previous role as Managing Director of Diageo Global Reserve, the supplier’s luxury liquor portfolio, would reinforce Diageo’s commitment to its travel retail strategy of premiumisation and differentiation, Abella said.
Paoli highlighted the key attractions to the Asia travel retail role – including the growth of the Asian market, the upside to be found in increasing penetration levels, growing profit per square metre at stores and the continual development of Diageo’s targeted travel retail strategy. He added: “[This role is] a great opportunity to transform our global travel retail business.”
We’ll examine the launch in greater detail in this week’s issue of The Moodie Report e-Zine.
