Can-do culture

There's a new buzz about Allied Domecq's old offices.

The managing director who inherited its bricks and mortar, as well as some of the brands, hopes it will spread well beyond Horsham.

Beam Global Spirits & Wine, the company that now calls the Sussex town home, moved in as a result of Allied's 2005 sale to Pernod Ricard. Following the acquisition, Pernod sold on a handful of brands to Beam, giving the business, owned by US spirits and wine supplier Fortune Brands, its first UK foothold.

Although the deal with Pernod was tied up last summer, Beam has remained discreet about the approach it plans to take.

But the appointment of Allied's UK wine division former MD Adrian McKeon means that the company's self-effacing time is over.

Comparing Beam's attitude to that held by multi-millionaire Apple computer empire owner Bill Gates, he says it is "fiercer and younger, new and faster - this environment is completely different from Allied's".

Beam is leaner than Allied, employing around 100 people versus its 250, although the brands in its charge have been halved.

Real contender

But Beam's scale makes it a real contender in the UK spirits sector - now its fourth biggest market globally. Purchase of Allied brands doubled its volumes, and it has a 25% stake in marketing and distribution firm Maxxium.

"Combining those two elements, we should be the UK's third-largest spirit supplier. We are about working strongly in niche markets: the brands we got from Allied were not given support. Now that we're doing this, we are seeing quick results."

McKeon is proud of the overhaul it has given to Harveys sherry, by far the biggest brand in the sector. "When you have the number one brand in a category, you have a responsibility to make sure the category doesn't decline. We have brought in three new products this year - a fino, an orange variant and a reserve.

"Allied worked on serving Harveys over ice with a slice of orange for 18 months, but it took us four months to simplify it by producing a sherry containing orange. Our speed in getting it to market says a lot about our work."

Beam has come up with a "Plan B" concept to encapsulate how it works. It's a business model that the company hopes will "challenge the status quo".

"We are not the number one spirits company - we're number four, so we need to be relevant because we're not as important [to our customers]," McKeon says candidly.

"In common with operators, we believe the consumer is king. We've been prepared to share information with them and offer expertise rather than keeping it all to ourselves."

As well as showing pubs that the company can be dynamic, he hopes the model will ignite energy in the spirits sector generally.

"There's a lack of enthusiasm in spirits. Some customers consider certain companies to be arrogant - I don't want that said about us. In some cases, people have been working in the spirits trade for a long time, and they feel worn down because it can be a hard

category. Their enthusiasm has been blunted by market conditions. Necessity is the mother of invention - and we need some of that now," he says.

Vision

McKeon's vision of reinvigorating spirits borrows some principles from wine - pushing product quality and authenticity and conveying more about heritage to consumers.

But he wants to harness the power of "experiential marketing" and increase ways in which drinkers come into contact with brands.

"Spending millions on mainstream TV advertising isn't the way to create emotional attachment with consumers. We're looking for ways to get more depth - one of the key things is getting the product into the customer's hands, which wine companies do very well."

Drawing on the extensive brands portfolio owned by Fortune Brands could also prove innovative - McKeon is already looking into gin and bourbon. But his path to making Beam the third-largest spirit supplier is unlikely to involve further acquisitions.

"If I spent $5bn [on buying the Allied brands] I'd want to see a return on that first. There will be more consolidation and we want to be at its forefront. The focus for us is on our 11 core brands, but we have plans to bring more to market next year."

McKeon agrees that Beam's "can-do culture" sounds very American, but adds that Fortune has given him scope to develop the business in his own style.

"Success breeds space. Our profit growth has been ten-fold, so they are letting us get on with it."

Beam's brand portfolio

Jim Beam, Sauza, Maker's Mark, Courvoisier, Canadian Club, Laphroaig, Harveys, After Shock, Cockburn's, Knob Creek and Sourz.