Despite Covid disruptions, Scottish Leader continues to grow strongly in India

Scottish Leader is a whisky designed for a new generation of whisky drinkers. Established in 1976, it has benefitted from decades of forward-thinking, diverse and collaborative blending teams. Since its launch in India, the whisky brand has been expanding at rapid speed in India. It has achieved over 75 per cent CAGR, which is faster than the category growth. The standard blended scotch segment has been growing at CAGR 13.3 per cent for the past five years. Guirec Danno, MD (Asia Pacific), Distell Group, in an interview with Bizz Buzz, presents Scottish Leader’s large presence in the global market and its foray in the Indian market along with Aspri Spirits, its India partner with the local expertise

How has Scottish Leader fared in the Indian market?

The product we have for India is the Scottish Leader original, which is the most popular variant in the brand portfolio. Globally it is priced in the standard Scotch segment. We have adopted the similar pricing approach in India. Since our launch four years ago, and despite the Covid disruptions, Scottish Leader continues to grow strongly in India. In the last year, we had to be agile in our approach due to some changes in local regulations. But I am pleased to say that we are on track with to reach our internal targets.

Do you have a strategy in place to make it a 1,00,000 cases brand?

Making our product available to consumer is really important for us. At the moment Scottish Leader is available in 15 States in India, and for sure we would like to expand the footprints further. Also we would like to leverage another strength of us which is the quality of our Scotch whisky, which has been well perceived by trade and consumers since launch in India. We plan to initiate more tasting activities to let more consumers to try our products. We maintain our long term ambition to reach 1,00,000 cases in India.

What are the ongoing promotions for the brand?

We are currently working on three pillars for activation: Awareness, visibility and trail. All our brand activities revolve around these pillars. We have been working on bringing the brand forward through the consumer forward activations such as ‘Scottish Leader Experience’ and participation in various Cocktail Weeks.

What makes Scottish Leader unique?

Scottish Leader is a whisky designed for a new generation of whisky drinkers. Established in 1976, it has benefitted from decades of forward-thinking, diverse and collaborative blending teams who tirelessly pursue our call to produce whisky that is of exceptionally smooth, with a touch of smoke with Scottish Leader Original expression. The liquid blend is created with carefully selected Malts and Grain whiskies. The blending process is led by our Master Blender Julieann Fernandez who leads a team of 15. In this team, the way of working is a true reflection of ‘collaboration’ because everyone will contribute their opinions which are valued in the blending process. At Scottish Leader we believe in having an open mind, in collaborating with like-minded people, and ultimately looking at whisky and life from a new perspective.

How would you rate Scottish Leader’s performance among the other Scotch brands in the same price category?

Scottish Leader has been expanding at speed in India during the past 4 years. We have achieved over 75 per cent CAGR, which is faster than the category growth. The standard blended scotch segment has been growing at CAGR 13.3 per cent for the past five years.

How has the strategic collaboration between Distell and Aspri Spirits helped to grow the brand?

Distell has a huge international presence in the UK, Europe, Taiwan and the Americas. Scottish Leader is the second largest Scotch brand in Taiwan and has strong positions in South Africa and Europe. Aspri in India represents some of the finest brands in the world of Wines and Spirits and is one of the leading players in the imported alcoholic beverage segment. Scottish Leader is an international brand which has won multiple awards both internationally and in India, together with Aspri’s local strength, we are thrilled to be able to bring this elegantly crafted spirit to Indian consumers. We are very confident they will love and enjoy our whisky as much as we do.

Is the emphasis on HORECA sales or retail to grow the brand?

Both actually. What is more important for us is having our products available at the relevant consumer touchpoints. More often than not, consumers will first trial a Scotch in the on-trade. So, this channel is critical to give an opportunity for consumer to taste and experience our award winning Scotch whisky for the first time. Then, we need to make sure that can purchase it closer to their home at their usual liquor store. So, both channel have a different role but complement each other.

Which of your promotions are likely to be a game changer for the brand?

At Scottish Leader we are very proud of our multi-award winning liquid. Since the launch in 2017, the liquid is very well perceived by trade and consumer in India. We believe by delivering a good Scottish Leader experience will be a game changer for us. So, we have designed a suite of consumer activities that will give our target audience in India a chance to taste and experience Scottish Leader for themselves at specific brand events. Last year we participated to a number of cocktail events: Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai to name a few. At each event, we got some very complementary feedback on the quality of the drink, thanks to the versatility of Scottish Leader. It is a very easy to drink Scotch whisky, a smooth blend that can be drunk on its own or mixed in a cocktail.

What kind of synergy do you see with Aspri brands and Scottish Leader?

We have a robust portfolio of premium spirits, wine and beers and a strong pan India footprint. Scotch is an aspiration beverage in India and fits well in the portfolio assortment that we offer as a company. The blanket portfolio approach has provided a strong base for faster and deeper penetration for the Scottish Leader brand in India.

What kind of premiumization are you looking for Scottish Leader?

We launched the Scottish Leader brand with a single variant. However as the brand progresses and the opportunity unfolds, we will be looking at addition of premium variants to the range.