Diageo unveils Christmas gift packs for key whiskey brands

Written by Claire Weekes

Monday, 24 November 2008

Source: Diageo

With Christmas just around the corner, Diageo Great Britain has unveiled its gift packs for key Whiskey brands Talisker Single Malt Scotch Whisky and Bushmills Irish Whiskey, as well as ultra-premium brand Johnnie Walker Blue Label Blended Scotch Whisky.

Christmas represents an excellent opportunity for retailers to grow alcohol sales. It is the leading gifting category by volume in grocery, making up 65% of all gifts bought during the festive season and last Christmas £112 million was spent on alcohol bought as a gift in grocers. Whiskey plays a huge part within the alcohol category at Christmas, with consumers purchasing on average three times more during the festive season than they do at any other time of the year . Diageo GB's great range of Whiskey gift packs aims to help retailers capitalise in this profit opportunity.

Talisker was the fastest growing Single Malt Scotch Whisky last Christmas , and this year the brand and its Christmas gift packs are benefiting from a £150,000 marketing spend in the 12 weeks leading up to Christmas.

There are three Talisker Christmas gift packs this year:
• Defender Talisker 10 year old Gift Pack. This is a widely available gift pack containing a bottle of Talisker surrounded in packaging resembling the fenders used to protect a boat

• Talisker 10 year old RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) Gift Pack. This bottle of Talisker is cased in a luxurious box and will only be available in Sainsbury's. For every pack sold £2 will be donated to the RNLI

• Luxury Talisker 25 Year Old Maritime Gift Box. This is a limited edition box designed to appeal to the affluent sailing community and can be personalized with the name of the owners yacht. There are only 500 being manufactured and sold in luxury retail outlets such as Selfridges, Harrods and specialist Whisky shops. It is available from November

The Talisker brand has also launched a new website for consumers and Whisky lovers - www.taliskerwhisky.com. Visitors are guided through the origins of the Whisky and can be kept up to date with the latest news from Talisker as well as viewing the other single malts in the Diageo Classic Malts range.

It's the 400th anniversary of the license to distill in the Bushmills area, so Bushmills Irish Whiskey are also offering two gift packs for Whiskey lovers this year. The festive season is the biggest sales opportunity for Irish Whiskey with 28% of annual sales occurring during this period.

The first of the Bushmills gift ideas is Bushmills 1608, a special anniversary Whiskey, of which only 1,000 bottles are available to buy pre-Christmas. This highly sought after blend is presented in a limited edition case and is available at Selfridges and Whiskey specialists across the UK. The second is Bushmills 400th Anniversary Taster Pack, which contains three miniature versions of Bushmills most popular blends, Bushmills Original, Black Bush and Bushmills Single Malt 10 year old.

If these gift ideas aren't enough to satisfy you, Diageo GB has something extra special to offer Whisky lovers this year, in the form of Johnnie Walker's Blue Label Blended Scotch Whisky. The brand, synonymous with luxury, has produced the ultimate Christmas gift for those who enjoy the finer things in life - the Johnnie Walker Blue Diary, which includes three once-in-a-lifetime experiences. The diary costs £95,000 (RSP) and only three will be produced.

The makers of Johnnie Walker have three more offerings to support Whisky specialists. Johnnie Walker Gold Label is providing six individual boxes of luxurious chocolates for every case bought by the retailer to give their customers something extra at Christmas, whilst Johnnie Walker Blue Label is offering an engraving service to personalise the gift, there is also a professional blue label gift wrapping service, please visit www.thewhiskyexchange.com for details.

James Pennefather, Whiskey Brand Director, Diageo GB says: "Whiskey is a popular choice for consumers at Christmas, and this year Diageo GB has really focused on providing value added gift packs for retailers to offer shoppers. Christmas is a really special occasion, and consumers want a great quality product that they can be proud to give to their relatives or friends as a gift.

"This time of year is a very valuable time for retailers, and the sprits category plays a huge part within this. Whiskey is the largest sprits category in the off-trade and represents 35% of total sprits value annually , and we believe our support this Christmas will help retailers maximize this profit opportunity."

Diageo GB's investment behind key Whiskey brands is part of its £41million4 investment this Christmas across leading brands and retailer and category activity to drive awareness and sales.