Diplomat is one of the two largest brands of the UB group in the low-end whisky segment, the other being Gold Riband whisky.
Alok Gupta, general manager, marketing, McDowell, said, "We want to rediscover the Diplomat brand. For the last couple of years, it has been the problem child for the company, as its sales have dropped tremendously." The brand currently contributes around four per cent to the company's total revenues.
The brand has suffered on the distribution front in key regions like in the north and south, which are supposed to be a strong market.
The company plans to relaunch the brand in terms of packaging and lot of research is done on the new packaging image. It will also support the brand with a strong retail strategy, Gupta said.
Gupta added that Diplomat was facing strong competition from other brands like Bagpiper (another UB brand), Green Label and Directors Special.
Even in the medium-end whisky segment, McDowell's Signature whisky has also not seen any significant growth. "The reason behind was its pricing strategy," Gupta said. Signature was priced between Rs 550-600 for a 750-ml bottle, when it was launched 18 months ago.
The brand was relaunched with new packaging in a cardboard shifting it from the metal canister in July 1999. This helped the company to bring down the price to Rs 475.
The company hopes to capture a 12 per cent share this year against its 7 per cent market share last year. It is targeting to sell 10,000 cases in a month. McDowell would spend Rs 4 crore for brand promotion and advertisements.
