The TFWA Asia Pacific Conference & Exhibition culminated last week. Here, db uncovers the key trends from the show.
Whisky cocktails
The rise of whisky across Asia and its versatility and mixability, across big brands and small ones was noted a few times this year, with cocktails containing whisky selling well.
Speaking exclusively to the drinks business at this year’s TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition & Conference, Ilva Saronno regional director for APAC and GTR Trent Barton Russell said: “There are some cocktails that are really taking off inside the Asian market. People want ones like ‘the godfather’, which is whisky mixed with amaretto. In our case, we offer the Irish whiskey The Busker and our other brand Disaronno. The trend is actually pretty useful as it has grown to become an extremely popular cocktail in Asia.”
According to Ilva Saronno, there is a prime opportunity that brand owners can leverage with the whisky cocktail trend since the opportunity for variation as well as to ride the highball trend in Japan has already seeded the idea that whiskies can be made more versatile when mixed.
Russell explained: “Whisky cocktails are an ignition point for us in Asia, where consumers want them to taste more floral, or are looking for more fruity-based cocktails. Plus, as many people know, highballs are still big in Japan and the highball phenomenon it is expanding outside of Japan, but it’s still very much focused in Japan”
But where in APAC are whisky cocktails moving forwards? According to Russell: “Looking at serves of the godfather cocktail, we can already recognise that these are mostly seen in North Asia but now they’re also becoming more popular and seen across China, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong too.”
Brown-Forman director of advocacy, EU, IMEA, APAC and GTR Nidal Ramini told db: “We’re seeing a ton of interest in everything we are showing, but also still with brands like Jack Daniels, because in some of the markets that we’re talking to here in Asia, Jack is still undiscovered, so we’re seeing a lot of interest in that and also the fact that Jack has an aged product now too. The 10 year old Jack Daniels we have is something that people are getting super excited about here.”
For Brown-Forman, its portfolio really plays into the trend, with brown spirits being the most presently visual on its stand and sampling at its bar showcasing the range of ways each drink can be enjoyed with premium mixability being a notable trend.
Ramini explained to db: “From the Woodforde Reserve point of view, Double Oaked is, again, for this part of the world, really popular and we knew it would see a huge amount of interest.”
Back at Ilva Saronno, Russell reiterated that the popularity of whisky cocktails in particular within the region was primarily down to an uplift in people drinking whisky as a mixed drink as opposed to only drinking it neat and noted that this variation has really helped boost the brown spirits in general while also introducing new consumers to the category.
Russell explained how “Godfather cocktails are popular in Asia because of the versatility of amaretto and the way in which it mixes so well with brown spirits to layer in a lot of different flavours. Particularly for blends of whisky because it brings a sweetness to the whisky which makes it more accessible to a broader range of people. Obviously, the peaty nature of whisky and strength of whisky can turn some people off but, with amaretto, you can soften that”.
Trends such as mixability and premiumisation are evidently still huge in Asia and, as Ramini pointed out: “Mixability is still doing well. We are doing quite a lot of trials” and explained that, for Brown-Forman, working in GTR to maximise these trends also means working in symbiosis with each domestic market across the region. He admitted: “What we try to do is to work with the local market”.
Premium vodka
There was significant interest in high end vodka at the TFWA Asia Pacific Conference & Exhibition this year with both distributors and brand owners keen to highlight how it is having a bit of a moment across Asia.
One example was evident from duty free distributor GMAX Travel Retail which has been busy expanding the reach of the Au Vodka brand which is now gaining ground in Asia and inflight.
Speaking exclusively to the drinks business, GMAX travel retail director Garry Maxwell admitted: “By the end of this year, I think Au will be the number one premium vodka in the UK” and explained: “We’re starting to get a footprint in Asia Pacific. We’re working with airlines, working with airports, ferries and cruise ships.”
According to Maxwell, the company has just “completed the first global launch of a flavour” which in this case is “Juicy Peach” and one that the company has said will assist in elevating the vodka further.
Maxwell pointed out how “normally, Au Vodka is launched into the UK as a priority, but now it has been launched in the US in travel retail because the business has grown faster than the US domestic market”.
Maxwell told db: : “We’ve just done an exclusive with a jet for the 70cl bottles, and with a volta for a litre.”
Describing the progress that high end vodka has made as a category, Maxwell insisted: “The growth has been amazing” and was “certainly one to watch” as premium vodka continued to climb to new heights with affluent travellers as well as “stars and influencers”.
Also showcasing how premium vodka is having its moment. Tito’s Vodka told db that it has secured a brand new domestic distributor in Israel and highlighted how much such new connections would assist in boosting the category.
Speaking to db, Tito’s Vodka international managing director John McDonnell said: “The distributor in Israel is named Zur and it is also our duty free customer in the Americas and we’ve just partnered with them in Israel which we are starting now. This is all new news, nobody really knows yet.”
The opportunity that premium vodka presents across new markets is going to see the category make a big impression across the east, said McDonnell. In essence, this means that the relationship will “open up the market domestically. But then also include supplying stores in Israel” giving vodka that “extra push”.
It’s a move that McDonnell assured means that premium vodka will also soon “be seen in every Middle Eastern country with the exception of Egypt”.
McDonnell explained that next he is targeting duty free in “Sri Lanka” and insisted: “People are waking up and getting off the gin trend. Everybody stocked way too many gins in duty free travel retail, and now they’re de-listing a number of gins because it’s not working domestically either. Instead, now, they are waking up to vodka” he said and insisted: “The vodka category is coming back in a big way” and “there’s a huge opportunity”.
Broadening target demographics
Gone are the days where drinks brand owners are focused solely on one demographic, with many now looking to the future and doing whatever possible to welcome in the next generation.
Mast-Jagermeister’s latest brand variant is being supported by a robust campaign backing it every step of the way to show that it is more than one thing to one kind of person. Granted, the brand clout that its flagship brand has established is secure, but now the business is looking at who else it can recruit to become a Jager fan.
Speaking about the company’s plans, Jagermeister marketing director Stephanie Cleary told db: “We’re now in our orange era. Our new brand is rolling out globally now and we really looked at and researched what our consumers wanted. Looking at Gen Z in particular, we looked into what taste profile they wanted and orange is the flavour profile that works.”
In terms of whether the company was still going for the shot serve this time around, Cleary pointed out that the orange variant could still be served as an “ice cold shot” or “as a long drink, in particular with tonic” but noted that the flavour is “really accessible” and this was the key reason why it had been created: to broaden appeal to next generation drinkers.
Cleary told db that the reason travel retail was a great place to roll out such new variants was to essentially use the uniqueness of the marketplace to tap into their next new audience when travelling and having fun. She added: “It’s Gen Z-friendly, we’ve done the research, so it’s a global launch across travel retail too, but it will only be available in certain domestic markets. So global travel retail is a key market for us in terms of reaching that international travelling consumer.”
Also keen to highlight how broadening demographics was key, drinks brand owners like Bacardi, Symington and Constellation Brands all revealed there was good reasoning behind flattening the reach of products that had once only been targeted at one kind of drinker.
Speaking to db at the show, Bacardi GTR Division assistant customer marketing manager Lee Wen Chien admitted: “Quite a lot of focus has gone into display and packaging to appeal to more people. We have been creating limited edition sleeves. So even on top of, say, the box, we might also have a sleeve specifically indicating that it is for the Diwali season, for example, and this is to reach more people who might otherwise not consider the products.”
Looking at how to appeal to differing demographics, Symington Family Estates senior manager Gonçalo Aragão a Brito highlighted how Symington has repositioned Port specifically to attract new people to the category.
Aragão told db: “Port was always very classic and seemed very much for older men, so we have tried to target it to younger consumers and have developed two ranges of Ports, just for cocktails. The easiest one, and the basic one, is the Port and tonic, which is made like a gin and tonic, but is hugely appealing.”
Also speaking to db about accessibility, Constellation Brands described how it is marketing some of its wines with grape varieties that are “easy drinking” as well as “using eye-catching and more simplistic packaging on bottles to reach more consumers”.
Constellation Brands general manager for Asia, Brendan Da Costa told db: “Even though Constellation Brands is a US-based company, we’ve got wineries across New Zealand, and Italy as well, so our base and our home and our heartland is certainly the US, particularly Napa Valley but we also have presence elsewhere.”
According to Da Costa, this has meant that showcasing the wine range’s diversity has been a key move it has started to implement. Da Costa explained: “We’ve got three tiers of wines from Napa from Robert Mondavi: the Napa tier, the Estate tier, and then our Reserve tier. Then we’ve also got the Prisoner Wine Company and we’ve got two different styles – we’ve got a traditional French style Cabernet and a Zinfandel-based wine. The Zin is much more accessible too.”
What seems to be most enticing about the wines being showcased however is the fact that they all stand out in their own way, he suggested. The Prisoner Wine Company in particular, Da Costa said people like it because “the label is actually quite interesting – it’s a de Boer etching. Then there is also another wine label that captures attention,” he added that people also find it memorable and explained how it manages to reach a different audience. He added: “This is called The Saldo, which has packaging that looks like it has been made with a Dymo machine”.
The continued rise of no and low
As wellness and conscientious consumerism trends have also made an impact, still the rise in no and low alcohol sweeps the globe. At the TFWA Asia Pacific Conference & Exhibition this was seen across wine serves in particular with low alcohol fizz options lifting the spritz segment at the same time.
Speaking to the db, Henkell Freixenet marketing manager GTR and Africa Núria Robles said that there was still room for low alcohol to grow and that, globally, it was not slowing down.
Robles explained: “No and low alcohol is still a trend. The low alcohol and no alcohol drinks trend is something that is booming now. And now we’re trying to create new products.”
Also piggybacking the trend was travel retail-focused distributor CoLab, which looks after a diverse portfolio of drinks brands where its owners are looking to expand across global touchpoints. CoLab already has a presence across 22 major airports and boasts active accounts in key markets all over the world, but is now using its connections to tap into the the no and low trend, primarily via the wine-based ready-to-drink category.
CoLab head of growth and online Will Gaultier told db: “We are launching Isola, a sparkling wine and RTD that sits neatly into the lower-alcohol range and has been inspired by Mediterranean beach clubs.”
Gaultier explained that the headroom that the no and low category still had available could be found among drinks where people still felt like they wanted “a treat” but didn’t necessarily want to “feel overlooked because they were not drinking alcohol”.
Gaultier told db: “We feel like, in drinks travel retail there is still a big opportunity with no and low because some shoppers are still ignored and so that’s why we wanted to launch Isola which is perfect for both men and women and has appeal for people who don’t always want to drink a lot of alcohol.”
Giftability
One of the hemisphere’s within which the GTR marketplace has always prospered is its prime position for travellers looking to bring things back to give to others. In Asia in particular however, high status gifts and rarity are still solid trends among business associates as much as family and friends and this was something TFWA Asia Pacific Conference & Exhibition excelled at demonstrating this year.
Examples could be seen from companies such as Gold Bar Whiskey, which was keen to preview how personalisation and showmanship are still the name of the game in travel retail.
Highlighting how the brand has gone from strength-to-strength, Gold Bar Whiskey director Ellen Torvi told db: “We’ve just launched in Sri Lankan airports and Indian airports within the past year, so we’ve added a whole footprint of South Asia.”
This, she insisted, was because the brand was eye-catching and made such a good gift. Hinting at how personalisation trends were big in Asia, Torvi explained: “We’re doing personalised bottles that are laser etched and we do this activation in airports and in retail, They make such a beautiful gift.”
Also speaking about the trend for exclusivity and gift-giving, Whyte & Mackay trade marketing manager for Asia travel retail Athena Lau told db: “We’ve got a lot at the moment that tap into being travel retail exclusives. We have been making some progress throughout Asia Pacific as well as the rest of the world.”
Similarly, Arterra Wines Canada admitted that it is recognising a rising demand for its products and highlighted how giftable they were at certain times of the year.
Describing the business, Arterra Wines Canada strategic account manager, Asia Pacific Mandy So told db: “We focus on Canadian ice wine and we are the number one selling ice wine in the world – that’s our core focus because they are popular in Asia Pacific. I would say that Inniskillin is doing very well.”
So highlighted how the company’s “products work brilliantly as gifts especially during the festive season” and revealed: “That is where our sales peak”.
Picking up on the trend, Loch Lomond managing director for global travel retail Luke Maga told db: “We have some travel retail exclusive ranges and have made some progress throughout Asia Pacific as well as the rest of the world.”
Maga explained: “We have a duty free exclusive range, which we launched last year and are revisiting once again this year. The main product which we’re showcasing for global travel retail, is part of the Remarkable Stills Collection and it offers up echoes of the past and is quite a special whisky and finished in Oloroso sherry casks.”
According to Maga, giftability and exclusivity is “highly important” and, because of this, Loch Lomond has “bottled 50 bottles out of the same cask, which makes it extremely limited” which is why “lots of people are buying these to give them to others as gifts”.
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