In the festive season run-in, Pernod Ricard is giving its le

For general manager Ian Tottman and the rest of his team at Pernod Ricard UK, the next couple of months will be pretty hectic as the Christmas spirit starts to kick in. It will also be a pretty good indicator of whether the drinks manufacturer has got its act together regarding the marketing of some of its key brands. One of the brands under the spotlight will be Jameson, its Irish whiskey. Pernod Ricard has already kicked off with a series of ads that make a point that Jameson drinkers are part of a small select band. The current one is: "98% have a gym membership. 2% use it. 98% drink whisky, 2% drink Jameson". Another ad says: "98% live beyond their means, the other 2% live off someone else's", with the same cast-off line that only 2% drink Jameson. The ad campaign is being accompanied by a series of promotions aimed at "young sophisticates". Last week Pernod Ricard played host to 800 people, bar owners and staff, in London to get across the message that Jameson can be served in a variety of ways. At present, Tottman estimates that the 30% of Jameson's sales are "on the rocks" with a further 20% with water. The remainder is sold either: as part of a cocktail;a simple mixed drink with dryginger, lemonade, cola, soda or cranberry; or in Irish coffee. Tottman explains: "At this stage, it is the simple mixed drinks side that is growing but thereis an interesting market for themore complicated drinks, solong as people don't try to over-complicate them and stick an umbrella in it." To get this message across, suggested cocktail mixes are being circulated to operators, particularly style-bar owners. Another area being explored for growth is Irish coffee, which currently accounts for about 5% of Jameson sales. Tottman uses the line that "there is only one Irish whiskey to have in an Irish coffee", but thinks that food pubs don't do enough to encourage diners to finish off their meal with an Irish coffee. "You can easily sell a £3 Irish coffee ­ it doesn't take much suggestion therapy, yet in the on-trade, we've lost the plot of makingpeople's minds up. They do it much better in the USA," says Tottman. "OK, some of them might be a bit too much in your face, but, on the whole, they do the job pretty well. "We don't encourage active selling as much as we should. Staff should take a soft approach, saying we would suggest an Irish coffee to finish off your meal'. It gives pleasure to the dinerand increased profit for the publican." Competing drinks manufacturer Diageo Great Britain is showing what can be done by linking its Irish cream liqueur, Baileys, with coffee. More than 2,000 pubs, bars and restaurants have put Baileys Latte (a combination of espresso, Baileys and steamed milk) on the menu. More than £2m is being spent on promoting the idea, which Diageo sees as a way for pubs to boost their afternoon sales. Pro-motions include a nationwide sampling campaign as well as training bar staff in association with coffee machine manufacturer Fracino. Tottman says Pernod Ricard's ambition is to grow Jameson by 15% over the coming year. "If you look at what we achieved over the past two years, then that isnot an unrealistic target. A growth of 15% in this on-trade is a respectable amount of money. We are making a big effort over the last quarter of this year." Another brand category expected to do well over the Christmas/New Year period is brandy. Pernod Ricard has only had Martell Cognac for nine months but has ambitious plans to recruit more consumers. "We are only just at the starting gate," says Tottman. It is starting a direct mail campaign to 120,000 people and will be encouraging them to try it asa long drink. Tottman does concede that perceptions have to be changed about brandy, particularly as the mainstay of the category revolves around drinkers in the 35 to 55 age bracket and that 85% of these drinkers are only occasional brandy drinkers.