Rum Focus: Gold is the new white...

Taken individually the following rum-related events may seem like small steps:

1. Early next year, the West Indies Rum and Spirits Producers Association (WIRSPA) will launch a rum accreditation scheme for genuine Caribbean rums. The exact details of this are not yet known, but it will provide information and a seal of approval on bottles.

2. In October, the Lindley Hall venue in London hosted Rum Fest, the first UK trade and consumer event of its kind.

3. Since June, All Bar One outlets have operated a standard pricing policy on all double measures of spirits across all categories, including rum. It is intended to introduce customers to different rums without having to think about cost.

4. Last month, JD Wetherspoon made a bid to extend the appeal of rum cocktail the mojito to traditional pubs when it launched its own version of the cocktail across its 700-strong estate. Wetherspoon's mojito involves a pre-mix product to which rum and soda is added, and sells at £3.49.

Taken together, they point to momentum building around the category.

Brave moves

WIRSPA believes we have reached a tipping point in consumers' appreciation of rum, and retailers are clearly prepared to make brave moves to make demand for the spirit more diverse. This momentum, though, means a new type of customer.

They are no longer as interested in giving the previously ubiquitous bar-call of Bacardi and Coke; they are branching out into more niche products. As we point out in the rest of these Rum Focus articles, there has been growth in the premium sub-category of golden rum and a decline - albeit from much higher bases - in dark and particularly white rum.

So, what are brands doing to capitalise on this new type of consumer interest, to push the growth of gold rum and to recover in the white and dark rum markets?

Bacardi

The white rum behemoth does have a significant player in golden rum in Oro, but there is no question about it switching focus from its flagship Superior brand.

Its 'Made to Mix' advertising campaign, the second installment of which launched in October supported by a £3m UK investment over a two month period, promotes white rum's mixability.

"Fundamentally what we are trying to do is increase the frequency of consumption," says Liam Newton, Bacardi director of marketing.

"Everyone knows Bacardi, but this is based around versatility, getting people to drink it with other things than cola."We need to be talking around the credibility of it as a liquid. We have a story to tell to reinforce those credentials."

Bacardi has in fact changed the name of its flagship brand in the UK from 'Carta Blanca' to the more Anglophone 'Superior' and its latest advertising is a significant step away from its Latin-themed predecessors. But this was a decision less to do with UK strategy and more to do with keeping its branding across the world consistent, according to Liam.

He points out that the rise and now fall of white rum is a common journey for any spirit category to make as its mainstream brands plateau, then are edged out by more niche players as consumer interest becomes broader.

And he is confident that white rum can continue to be a big presence in pubs. "If we thought the downward spiral would continue, we would not be spending £15m on promoting Superior this year," Liam says. "That is trying to change the whole dynamic of it in the on-trade."

Havana Club

Pernod Ricard (PRUK), meanwhile, is putting all its faith in the gold Especial and turning away from Havana Club Blanco. With good reason. Especial has been one of rum's big successes, with Nielsen recording a 71 per cent volume growth in the brand in the 12 months to July, and industry talk of it eating into Bacardi as the pub trade's mainstream rum brand of choice.

"One of the reasons for the market trends is that white rum is not recruiting new consumers - gold is," says PRUK head of marketing for white spirits Jo Spencer.

A £1.3m annual investment behind Especial will cover 'Piece of Havana' entertainment and tasting events in major cities, pushing signature serves, presence at music festivals and a website featuring advice and information for licensees.

Jo believes that gold rum has a very different target consumer from white, and that Especial is not necessarily stealing drinkers from Bacardi. "Gold's profile is 25 to 35-year-old blokes - premium beer and white spirits drinkers," she says. "White's female and has a broader age range."

Wray & Nephew

While its biggest seller is White Overproof, Wray & Nephew sees its range of golden rums as being the areas for growth.

All in all, the company seems to be hedging its bets in the white versus gold divide. Its Appleton White is an unusual product in that it picks up a golden colour in ageing which is then removed through filtering. This makes it more accessible to consumers.

As Wray & Nephew marketing manager Mariam Ridley explains: "It's so much easier to move consumers from one white spirit to another white spirit. It provides a bridge for a transition from vodka."

Last year the company published a report into the rum market which pointed to 'vodka fatigue' - consumers were switching to more flavoursome spirits. Wray & Nephew plans on making this a biannual publication.

As Caribbean rums, Wray & Nephew's products will soon also be benchmarked by WIRSPA.

Captain Morgan and Morgan's Spiced

The fortunes of the dark and golden sub-categories have persuaded Diageo to focus largely on Morgan's Spiced (gold), rather than Captain Morgan (dark).

Its support for Morgan's Spiced is entirely different to how it is supporting the frontrunner in the declining dark rum category. In the flavoured golden rum's case, it is getting a £1.5m annual investment in the 'Out of the Ordinary' campaign. This involves national online advertising and music and sampling events in Scotland, historically the heartland for Diageo's rum brands.

Captain Morgan got a new 'modernising' bottle design earlier this year, and £100,000 to £200,000 will be spent per year on in-bar material.

Diageo GB rums marketing manager Julie Bramham says: "Our focus really in finding more growth is Morgan's Spiced. We see gold as the category for the long term. The feedback we get from the trade on Captain Morgan is 'actually, what we want is help to serve this spirit well, to be provided with support in-bar'."

Inspirit

The drinks company is to shelve rum brand Matusalem, but not without replacing it with a deal for the UK distribution of another rum, Eldorado.

Mike Beavan, national account manager for Inspirit Brands, is looking forward to the launch of the WIRSPA mark.

He explains: "The guy in the street doesn't have the first clue about rum. With the WIRSPA activity, people will get it. It will apply to all rums but golden will benefit the most. Brands are mainly focusing on their golds."