The Hindu Business Line : Whytehall plans ad blitz

The company has also announced Rs 10-crore brand promotion strategy to inform whisky connoisseurs in the country about the `5' that is associated with the brand name.

Mr Shobhan Roy, President of WIL, said that though the company was already present in the whisky segment, it wished to reinforce its presence in the deluxe segment with Whytehall 5. He said that the product was created using traditional Scotch whisky making techniques, as practised in Scotland.

He added that the brand had been developed with pure grain spirit, mature malt spirits and special imported vatted scotch malt with 5-year old Highland scotch element to impart the flavour, aroma and taste.

Bacardi-Martini India Ltd (BMIL) has been entrusted with the responsibility of marketing the product. Mr Jeff Macdonald, Managing Director, BMIL said, "We intend to create a strong consumer pull through a programme of unique marketing activities of Whytehall 5. We have planned a promotion during India's forthcoming one-day International series against West Indies, England and New Zealand.

On market growth, Mr Roy said that the domestic whisky market was growing by 8 to 10 per cent. "In the prestige segment, total demand would be about 21 million cases per annum comprising about 3 million cases for the upper end of the market and 18 million cases for the lower end . WIL's objective would be to grab about 20 per cent share of the upper end of the market," he said.

Mr Roy also said that about 50 per cent of the target production of 5 lakh cases for the current fiscal would be manufactured and bottled at its own distillery at Rampur in Uttar Pradesh. The rest would be sourced from two allied units, one in Andhra Pradesh and the other in Punjab. However, he added that the company had no plans to set up a greenfield distillery at present.

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