William Grant to completely redesign Drambuie

William Grant & Sons is planning to completely rejuvenate Scotch whisky liqueur Drambuie to “re-engage” consumers after its purchase of the brand earlier this year.

Drambuie’s Zig-Zag bottle will be eventually be pulled as part of the brand’s redesign

Despite the success of Drambuie’s A Taste of the Extraordinary marketing campaign, which drove a sales increase of 17% in the UK in 2013, William Grant intends on “killing” the quirky communication in favour of a fresh start on the brand.

The strategy means Drambuie’s newly-released “zig-zag” travel retail packaging will eventually be discontinued.

“With Drambuie we have a brilliant brand name and heritage but we just need to re-engage drinkers,” Ian Taylor, global travel retail director for William Grant said.

“We’re not sure which direction we are going to go with Drambuie yet, but we want to have a go at something exciting.”

Taylor added that as part of the brand’s repositioning the UK-based drinks group intends to lean on Drambuie’s ownership of the Rusty Nail cocktail copyright, and its association with the Rat Pack.

Drambuie was purchased for an undisclosed sum by William Grant in September this year, and is expected to completely change hands in January 2015.

Despite double-digit growth in the UK, Drambuie has been battling flat sales in its leading US market, and destocking in Asia.

Analysts have since described the brand as a “good fit” for William Grant, giving the group an opportunity to move into flavoured whisky without damaging its existing portfolio.