Diageo invests £1.5m to expand brand archives

Having made several brand acquisitions in the past 12 months, Diageo has announced plans to invest £1.5million in expanding its global brand archives.

The Diageo Archive, situated at the company’s Technical Centre at Menstrie in Clackmannanshire, Scotland, currently consists of around 500,000 items dating back to the 1600s, including historical bottles, marketing material, documents and other memorabilia relating to the company’s drinks brands.

Under a planning application submitted to Clackmannshire Council, Diageo intends to extend and redevelop the archive with a new storage facility, reception, and library area for hosting visitors.

Christine McCafferty, who has managed the Diageo Archive for 15 years, said: “The Diageo Archive is has been carefully and lovingly built over many years and is a living record of the tradition and heritage of brands which are famous around the globe.

“Diageo has the world’s leading collection of premium drinks brands and with new marketing campaigns, new bottles and new packaging being developed all the time our collection is continually expanding.”

The raft of new brand acquisitions made by Diageo in the last year are expected to put a strain on the group’s archive facility in its current state. It’s expected memorabilia from new brands Ypioca cachaca, Vodka Hanoi, Mey Icki, and those Scotch whiskies acquired through the 53.4% buyout of United Spirits, will join the archives in due course.

“As the demand for our brands grows worldwide and there is an increasing requirement to protect brand identities and trade-marks, the work we do here in Menstrie remains as relevant and essential as it did when we started in 1990,” added McCafferty.

The Diageo Archive moved to Menstrie in June 2001, but has been collecting items from brands such as Gordon’s, Beefeater, Johnnie Walker, Bell’s and Smirnoff for 23 years. It currently holds more than 10,000 bottles and 12,000 adverts on more than 1500 brands and 200 production sites.