BRAND BUZZ W RITTE N B Y D AV I D S CH U E MAN N
YOUR BRAND & RTDS Does it make sense? Should you extend into RTDs? Here are some key considerations.
S
o, you’re looking to get into the ready-to-drink category, and you’re probably wondering where to begin. Maybe you have spirits aging in barrels and need to gain revenue while they mature. Maybe you’re ready to appeal to a different segment of the market. What should your design look like? Well, before you dive into branding, you will need to ask yourself a few more questions to make sure an RTD expression of your brand makes sense.
IS YOUR STRATEGIC ARCHITECTURE? 1 WHAT HOUSE OF BRANDS VS. BRANDED HOUSE Have you built a Branded House or a House of Brands? This is an important distinction to make as you expand into alternate packaging methods such as RTDs. A quick refresher:
▶ Branded Houses utilize a single-brand strategy and have a uniform brand expression across all products. An example of this is Jose Cuervo: the family-owned tequila company uses the same overall branding to maintain brand recognition and credibility across their product mix. This includes various styles of tequila, RTDs, seltzers, and margarita mixes. They have the esteem and pedigree to carry quite a bit of weight with the consumer, who is likely to reach for a Jose Cuervo RTD rather than one named and packaged differently, even if it was the same product.
▶ The House of Brands model is a multi-brand strategy; all the products in your company
arsenal bear their own unique brand names and look completely unrelated. An example of this is Brown-Forman, who owns Jack Daniel’s Whiskey, Herradura Tequila, and Finlandia Vodka — three standalone brands within their respective alcohol beverage categories.
There are pros and cons to both strategies which largely depend on your company’s exit strategy, production volume, and marketing budget. Still, once you’ve determined which strategy makes the most sense for you/which one you are, you are closer to determining a direction for your RTD. See our article “Branded House vs. House of Brands” in the Summer 2017 issue of Artisan Spirit Magazine for more details on these two brand strategies.
W W W . ARTISANSPIRITMAG . C O M
Read Branded House vs. House of Brands
2
WHAT IS YOUR MAIN PRODUCT’S PRICE POINT?
If you have a luxury whiskey that commands $200 a bottle, creating an RTD with the same name and look may not make sense for your brand. At best, it can cause confusion in the market, and at worst, it can possibly degrade the success and diminish the pedigree of your core brand. If you have a more everyday whiskey, for example, one that is priced at $50 a bottle, RTDs could work symbiotically with your brand promise and offer an entry point into your brand while providing additional cash flow while the product ages in barrels.
27