Mcdowell Eyeing Top Position For Celebration Xxx Rum

McDowell & Company Ltd has launched an aggressive, long-term marketing-led campaign to make its Celebration XXX Rum top the Indian rum market, dominated by `Old Monk' from the Mohan Meakins stable.

Celebration Rum is close to touching 2 million cases this financial, while Old Monk rum accounts for nearly 3.5 million cases.

McDowell's regional brand, Old Cask, sells almost 1.2 million cases, with the biggest chunk of sales coming from core southern markets alone.

McDowell has upped its advertising outlay for Celebration Rum to Rs 4 crore this year and will focus primarily on outdoor and television advertising and continuing its sponsorship of national football icons and leading clubs.

 

In a larger sense, McDowell is looking at expanding the market for rum in the whisky-led world of Indian spirits.

In a bid to take the whisky market head on, Celebration Rum will soon be introduced at two or three price points. And, in certain markets where McDowells' lower-priced `Old Cask' rum is strong, Celebration Rum is already providing a flanking mechanism for the customer who wants to graduate to a finer rum.

Celebration Rum has also walked the Canteen Stores Department route with telling success in the last two years, growing at about 150 per cent, while its growth in the civilian market has hovered around 30-35 per cent compared with the industry growth rate of around 16 per cent.

"Celebration's real battle will be in Tamil Nadu, where Old Monk has a tremendous price advantage, retailing at lower rates than McDowell's regional brand - Old Cask," M Siddharta, general manager, marketing, McDowell, said.

Celebration Rum is the brand leader in most markets except Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi, with a market share of over 50 per cent and a virtual stranglehold in the predominantly rum-drinking southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu and the eastern markets of Calcutta, Orissa, Bihar, Assam, Meghalaya, and Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Goa.

Over time, the Celebration Rum brand has bonded strongly with football and whipped up a strong image, especially in Mohun Bagan territory - Calcutta.

Celebrity endorsements, Bhaichung Bhutia in particular, and the sponsorship of the Mohun Bagan Club, has contributed significantly to the rise of Celebration in Calcutta, Siddhartha said.

The brand posted a composite annual growth rate (CAGR) of 37 per cent and ended 1999-2000 with figures of 19.8 lakh cases.

"Foreign brands like Bacardi and Christian Brothers have entered the rum market in the extra premium category and we are not looking at that market at all," Siddhartha said.

The major Indian players in the rum market are Mohan Meakins' Old Monk Rum, No 1 McDowell's Celebration Rum and McDowell's Old Cask Rum in the dark rum category, while foreign entrant Bacardi has entered India in the white rum category and Christian Brothers in the dark rum segment.

McDowell's Old Cask Rum dominates the southern market with the top slot in both Tamil Nadu and Kerala and on the verge of taking over the Andhra Pradesh market.