Earlier this month, Australian wine brand Jacob’s Creek announced the launch of Unwind, a non-alcoholic wine with less than 0.5% alcohol content. Pernod Ricard, which sells Jacob’s Creek in India, has a wide portfolio of local and international brands such as Royal Stag, Blenders Pride, Chivas Regal, Ballantines, The Glenlivet, Jameson Irish Whiskey, Absolute Vodka and Money 47 Gin.
In an interview, Kartik Mohindra, Chief Marketing Officer, Pernod Ricard India spoke about the growing affinity of Indian consumers towards better drinking and the company’s plans to launch multiple international brands. Edited excerpt:
What inspired you to enter the nonalcoholic wine category?
The genesis of this whole thing is that globally, there is a conscious consumer move towards products with little or no alcohol. Consumers are concerned about drinking and driving, and rightly so. There are times when they don’t want to go for a high-alcohol product, but want to taste something to go on a special evening in that area. So, the trick is to make it look and taste like the real product without the alcohol content, and the winemakers at Jacob’s Creek in Australia have done a great job creating this product, which contains less than 0.5% alcohol Is. This is wine without the kick that comes with it. We believe that India represents a huge opportunity for this product category.
Is this your first product in the non-alcoholic category?
Yes, this is one of the first. But there will be a bunch of beverages that we are likely to encounter in the coming years. For example, we’re working with low-alcohol whiskey and gins as the next wave of offerings from us, not wine.
Will your retail focus change for these products?
For us, this is a unique area because there will be specific outlets for, say, Jacob’s Creek Unwind, department stores and grocery stores. The company already has a completely different team when it comes to the non-alcoholic product range that we are likely to create over time. A complete distribution network with e-commerce capabilities is being built so that these represent strong channels for us to drive these niche products. For example, Unwind is available on Amazon; So, you can technically buy it anywhere in the country.
Pernod Ricard’s portfolio is huge. Are you planning to focus on some premium brands?
Honestly, premiumization as a company’s vision and strategy is nothing new for Pernod. This has been a stated ambition and strategic intent on our part from the day we started here. We have always captured premium pricing that used to be the industry or segment benchmark. But we aim, of course, to ride this macroeconomic wave India is going through where consumers are uptrading and premiuming.
Are you bringing in any other brands from the international portfolio?
Yes; In the next few years, we are going to launch many new brands. From the international brand portfolio, we have just started introducing a super-premium rum, a seven year old Havana Club.
We are looking at expanding into the imported gin category as well. Therefore, gin, especially in the top end of the pyramid in urban centres, is getting stronger and stronger, albeit on a smaller base. So, we have a great portfolio of brands in the global roster that we are going to introduce in the coming months- this one super-premium Italian gin malfi. We will also be launching an ultra premium gin from Japan called Kinobi. We’ve closed our operations over the next few months to get into new or emerging categories to invest in for the future.
What are the new consumption trends? The recent National Family Health Survey states that young consumers are drinking less alcohol.
I think one of the trends we can talk about for these people is that they believe in drinking more quality rather than quantity. And this is what is driving the premiumization trend. Too much consciousness pervades the desire to be in control. So, those things are great. But what young consumers are also turning to is too much experimentation. Unlike their predecessors, they are not confined to just one category. They have a plethora of categories that they will join on occasion; So those same people will be equally comfortable enjoying whiskey or gravitate towards gin or vodka or even wine, depending on how they feel.
Mixology is on the rise. This is largely driven by the lockdown, where small home parties enabled people to indulge in DIY cocktails.
These are very interesting trends that young consumers are bringing to the table. It is up to marketers to be consumer-focused and remain relevant to these trends.