Blend and boring

If anything is to blame for the poor performance of scotch whisky in the UK, then it's traditional blends - the big-selling brands.

It is quite something to look at the year-on-year figures for the top 10 blended whisky brands: they are all in decline. Bell's, The Famous Grouse and Whyte & Mackay - all big names in whisky, all suffering.

John Glaser, a man with good knowledge of the market after spending most of the 1990s working for Johnnie Walker, believes the future is not bright for blends. "I think they are doomed unless they completely make over their flavour profiles," he says. "Big companies tend to think it is all about image. When it comes to whisky the core proposition is flavour. You need to make a virtue of flavour."

What has happened to the blends?

1. Total lack of innovation

The scotch whisky category in pubs is not exactly dynamic. Would it be wrong to say that the big brand owners are simply milking their brands - bringing out variations but not actually coming up with any genuinely new innovation?

When you go into your local, nine times out of 10 you will see the same brand names, with virtually no new product development. Diageo might disagree and flag up its J&B -6Þ whisky, which it launched in March 2005. However, in producing what is to all intents and purposes a 'whisky-lite', Diageo has risked damaging J&B itself. Why did it not have the courage of its convictions and launch -6Þ under a new name?

The number one whisky in pubs for the last 26 years, according to Diageo, is Bell's. Its main innovation this year has been the introduction of a new quiz night kit. This is a brand that accounts for one in every three glasses of whisky consumed in the UK on-trade. Now compare this to what Diageo invests in Guinness and you begin to see where priorities lie.

Where is the clever innovation, the cracking marketing and brilliant advertising?

2. Perception/baggage

Scotch is great drink with a massive tradition and history. But there's no doubt that hinders the drink when it comes to attracting new consumers - this image is far removed from the crafted, serious and slightly cool image of American whiskey.

But Gordon Muir, brand manager for malts at Maxxium UK, points out: "There are very good values attached to being Scottish that are a million miles away from heather and bagpipes. We can focus on them."

3. Mixing

One of whisky's unfortunate problems is that it is not a spirit ideally suited to mixing. Cola, the automatic mixer choice, is particularly problematic, with the taste overpowering and conflicting against the sweet, toasted aromas of scotch.

Pernod Ricard, through Jameson, has suggested a mix with ginger - but to be honest this is a spark of an idea that hasn't really caught fire.

The truth is non-whisky drinkers don't know how to drink it - neat, over ice, with water or mixed? The brand owners don't help by saying, "drink it any way you want". Consumers need guidance.

Gordon Muir believes a new approach is needed - be it blend or malt. "Perhaps we should encourage people to drink the product for the flavour of the whisky and not the flavour of the mixer. It is important for us as producers to get the message of flavour across. Flavour is the truth of a product," he says.

However, there are two blended brands that are convinced that mixing is the way to reinvigorate sales and attract new drinkers.

The Famous Grouse brand manager Bob Dalrymple accepts all of the problems that blends are facing, and suggests mixability is the best way to tackle them. The brand has done this through mixability sampling evenings and similar events at Scottish rugby internationals, through its sponsorship of the Scotland team. "To turn people onto whisky as a mixer is looking for a big shift in consumer behaviour - the mountain to climb is pretty high. But it is a mountain worth climbing," he says.

Another company working hard to turn people onto blended whisky is Whyte & Mackay (W&M). It has undergone a major facelift in the last two years and has repackaged its core whisky brands.

David Brown, on-trade sales director for W&M, believes it is up to the big brands to lift themselves out of the trough. He says: "The blended category has been in long-term decline. And it is incumbent on all the main brands to drive the category. It is not just about stealing market share off each other. We want to do our bit to drive the category."

David believes there is a big opportunity with whisky in mixed drinks - but not necessarily in the traditional way.

"We've had a bit of initial success with the Whisky Mac - which is not quite a cocktail and a bit more than a spirit and mixer. It is W&M with a touch of ginger and topped up with soda. You'd be foolish not to include mixability in your whisky plan. A straight shot of whisky does not look like great value for money."