The Covid-19 pandemic has given rise to some interesting trends, while accelerating a few others across industries and sectors. Convenience as a consumer need has gained more importance and, if we talk about the alco-bev segment in India, targeting the in-home consumption occasions has certainly assumed great significance for brands. One of the strategies the companies are adopting is the RTD or Ready-To-Drink route, which is well-suited to provide a convenient ready-to-enjoy drink format for consumers.
In line with this, the American whiskey major Jack Daniel’s has launched its ready-to-drink brand Jack & Cola in India. According to the dealer, Jack & Cola is often cited as the world’s most popular branded bar calls, and it is making its debut in India in select markets across the country at a price point of Rs175 onwards.
According to industry reports, Jack Daniel’s Old No.7 ready-to-drink cocktails are the number one whiskey-based premix in the world and leading the global growth driver of the spirit-based premix category.
To be imported to India, the launch of Jack & Cola marks the first time that a premium premix whiskey-based cocktail is being made available to consumers in a convenient format in the country as well as the first time that a premium spirits brand is entering in this category. With convenience being the main driver, the ready-to-drink format has been growing at an exceptional rate globally and was the fastest growing brand for Brown-Forman, company that owns Jack Daniel’s among other well known brands, during the last financial year, the company said.
Perfectly balanced drink
The Jack & Cola cocktail starts with the iconic Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 Tennessee Whiskey, which is mixed with Cola for a perfectly balanced drink. It highlights the flavours of the charcoal-mellowed Tennessee whiskey in a drinkable and convenient format. “Jack & Cola is probably the world’s best-known cocktail and we are really excited to introduce it in India with our first ready-to-drink product in a convenient format,” explains Siddharth Wadia, general manager, India, Middle East & North Africa, Brown-Forman Worldwide LLC.
“With the alcohol-based RTD format growing rapidly, we believe it is absolutely the right time to bring this to consumers here. Not only will this help us make the Jack Daniel’s brand more accessible and drive affordability, it will also help us get new consumers to join the Jack Daniel’s family and create new consumption occasions,” says he.
“India is a strategic market for Brown-Forman and we regularly assess the consumer trends in the Alco-bev category,” Wadia adds. “The Jack & Cola RTD was introduced after considerable consumer research by the company, in which they saw encouraging consumer trends with respect to the accelerated growth in the cocktail culture, enhanced consumer repertoire to try new formats and whiskey based drinks.”
With the alcohol-based RTD format growing rapidly, we believe it is absolutely the right time to bring this to consumers here. Not only will this help us make the Jack Daniel’s brand more accessible and drive affordability, it will also help us get new consumers to join the Jack Daniel’s family and create new consumption occasions
By aligning to Jack Daniels’ overall strategy to grow the American Whiskey category and bring more consumers into the Jack Daniel’s franchise, “the RTDs enable affordability and make the trademark more accessible by making it relevant to newer occasions where the full-strength whiskey may not be most relevant,” explains Wadia. Talking about 2021 as a year for Brown-Forman, Wadia is quite happy with the performance in India, particularly in the latter part of the year.
According to him, the latter half of the year in the country has seen a strong turnaround with business recovering and, in some cases, even surpassing pre-Covid levels. While India has historically demonstrated a ‘V’ shaped recovery, the most encouraging aspect of the recovery this year has been the accelerated growth in premiumisation, he adds. Speaking on the challenges the company faced in India, he acknowledges that there were a few short-term challenges during the year such as restrictions around social gatherings and celebration occasions, coupled with the interim impact on the on-premise channel.
So, what are the expectations from this year? The company is cautiously optimistic, as it navigates through the Covid environment. The on-premise channel looks to jump-start back to normal and the company believes that this, coupled with a few other factors like the uptick in tourism and changing consumer behaviour, makes it well-poised to have a great 2022 business-wise.