EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: This week The Moodie Davitt Report broke the news that WEBB Global Travel Retail (WEBB GTR) has appointed Stephen Corrigan as Managing Director.
It’s a canny move by the independent wine & spirits company. Corrigan knows the drinks and travel retail sectors inside out from two decades in the channel with Pernod Ricard and William Grant & Sons.
WEBB GTR was created shortly after what had been a highly profitable joint venture known as Edrington WEBB Travel Retail Americas was purchased by The Edrington Group on 1 June, as part of the latter’s consolidation of all global travel retail operations.
Corrigan teamed up with industry veteran Andy Consuegra and others to launch WEBB GTR on 1 July, 2017. Its operations centre on travel retail in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Asia, embracing a diverse portfolio of premium spirits and wines.
On the eve of TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes, where Corrigan and colleagues will be talking with retailers about the WEBB GTR portfolio, Martin Moodie caught up with him to ask about the challenges and opportunities ahead.
“We’re a dynamic young new company with interesting new brands, intent on being at the forefront of the direction that the industry needs to go.” So says Stephen (‘Steve’) Corrigan, who is all pumped-up about the opportunities ahead at WEBB Global Travel Retail, where his appointment as Managing Director was revealed earlier this week.
“Craft is all about authenticity and relevance; those qualities really are the way forward. Our objective is to build the most relevant craft portfolio in travel retail.” – Stephen Corrigan
Corrigan, a veteran of the travel retail drinks sector through long and successful stints at Pernod Ricard and William Grant & Sons, says he relishes working for an independent player intent on providing many of the solutions to the 21st challenges faced by travel retailers.
Relationships are key to success in the travel retail channel, Corrigan says. In that context, he pays warm tribute to industry colleagues who have developed the business in recent times and who continue to represent certain brands (that also form part of the WEBB portfolio) in selected markets.
DutyBuddy offers digital solution Being very much a 21st century company with an acute focus on millennial consumers, WEBB GTR sees digital platforms as key to its and travel retail’s future. The company is collaborating with DutyBuddy, a digital platform run by entrepreneur Cenk Akerson that plans to increase penetration by encouraging non-travellers to have travellers (who would otherwise be non-purchasers) buy for them. It’s an intriguing concept that will soon be rolled out with a number of travel retailers and brands. “We’re looking closely at digital media because it’s future facing,” says Corrigan. “How do we reach travellers who only look up from their phones for a few minutes in an airport?” That’s a crucial question that needs to be addressed by airports, retailers and brands. For its part, WEBB GTR intends to provide at least some of the answers. |
Speaking to The Moodie Davitt Report just after the announcement and on the eve of TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes, which he is attending, Corrigan said: “We believe that the game is changing; in fact, it already has changed in a lot of domestic markets. Millennials are hyperconnected and extremely well-informed. They’re searching for authenticity and legitimacy in everything they do. They have access [via social media] to all of the information they want.”
Which is where WEBB GTR comes in, he says. The company’s portfolio is burgeoning with a host of craft spirits likely to appeal to the key emerging millennials consumer base as well as a wider, increasingly quality-focused audience.
“Craft is all about authenticity and relevance; those qualities really are the way forward,” Corrigan says. “The offer itself needs to be authentic. Our objective is to curate a portfolio that addresses that.
“We’re not the only ones, nor the first ones, to the party. But our objective is to build the most relevant craft portfolio in travel retail.”
“We are trying to create the best of both worlds – so that we have a portfolio with strategic partners who have the big brands and on top of that we’ll have a really relevant craft portfolio”
WEBB GTR plans to do that partly through leveraging the power of several blockbuster brands in its portfolio – names such as Tito’s vodka, Paddy’s Irish whiskey, Southern Comfort, Fireball, Buffalo Trace and others.
“These are multi-million case brands – broad shoulders on which to build our craft portfolio,” Corrigan says. “So, they’re the door openers, if you like, and from there we can build this craft offering.”
Besides his Managing Director’s role, Corrigan also has a stake in WEBB GTR, something that gives him enormous incentive to grow the fledgling business into a powerful global player.
Through a combination of its successful role in the prior joint venture with Edrington; its heady combination of craft and power brands; and its connections with major drinks companies and industry influencers, WEBB GTR is ready to make a big impact, Corrigan reckons.
Craft spirits (and craft beer) have become hugely important in many domestic markets, yet so far their impact in travel retail has been relatively muted. How well does the channel understand this 21st century phenomenon?
“I’d say we’re a step behind,” says Corrigan. “That’s not because of a lack of creative minds in the industry but more to do with the historic business structure of the industry. It hasn’t allowed for as much risk-taking as in domestic markets. We at WEBB GTR want to be at the front end of this wave because the survival of wine and spirits within travel retail is going to rely more and more on our ability to be more creative, take more risks, and be more relevant, rather than rely on the old structures.
“Big brands are not going to go away, as long as people are buying them. But we’re going to need to be a bit nimbler. We are trying to create the best of both worlds – so that we have a portfolio with strategic partners who have the big brands and on top of that we’ll have a really relevant craft portfolio.
“We have an amazing portfolio that is underdeveloped in this trade channel. For example, we are in serious discussions with a Texas whisky distillery called Rebecca Creek. Fantastic. Over on the gin side, I’m so excited to present several premium and craft gins including New York’s own Brooklyn Gin; we’re working very closely with an absolutely amazing tequila company – the best craft tequila I’ve seen – which has an incredible story I’ll tell at the show. And we have so many more. These are really interesting new products, authentic craft products that don’t fully understand our trade channel yet. They’ve never really thought about it until now.
“With our experience at WEBB GTR, we can curate a portfolio for the channel that helps lead duty free wine and spirits into the next generation. We also have an incredible wine portfolio that we believe will be relevant to travel retail.”
Having set up the WEBB GTR operation out of the USA, Corrigan plans to build a global sales and marketing team to leverage relevant parts of the portfolio in all key travel retail regions. The Americas is very much in place with Asia and Europe key short-term priorities.
How does this latest challenge compare with those of his earlier career? “I’ve had an amazing run over the past 20 years,” Corrigan replies. “I started on St Patrick’s Day in 1997 with Pernod Ricard, with what was then World Brands Duty Free under the great Chris Mason. I can’t imagine a more interesting time than the 15 years I spent at Pernod Ricard. We went from the Pernod Ricard of the mid- and late-90s, having bought Irish Distillers and Austin Nichols, Orlando Wyndham, etc. into the era where we acquired parts of Seagram, Allied Domecq and of course Absolut. It was an intense period that allowed me to really learn about the drinks industry at many levels.
DutyBuddy offers digital solution Being very much a 21st century company with an acute focus on millennial consumers, WEBB GTR sees digital platforms as key to its and travel retail’s future. The company is collaborating with DutyBuddy, a digital platform run by entrepreneur Cenk Akerson that plans to increase penetration by encouraging non-travellers to have travellers (who would otherwise be non-purchasers) buy for them. It’s an intriguing concept that will soon be rolled out with a number of travel retailers and brands. “We’re looking closely at digital media because it’s future facing,” says Corrigan. “How do we reach travellers who only look up from their phones for a few minutes in an airport?” That’s a crucial question that needs to be addressed by airports, retailers and brands alike. For its part, WEBB GTR intends to provide at least some of the answers. |
