Are signature serves limiting for spirits brands?

Signature serves are making their mark as producers try to directly educate consumers – but do they actually rein in a brand’s potential?

Two names in the spirits industry debate the relevance of signature serves

For most spirits brands available in the on-trade, having a signature serve allows them to engage with bartenders and coin a cocktail that becomes easily recognisable to consumers.

Whats more, as more consumers move to at-home hosting, such serves provide an easy incentive for shoppers to pick a particular spirit brand off the supermarket shelf.

But can having a signature serve actually limit a brand’s repertoire?

Debating the issue is Adriana Soley, bar manager at Andanada Restaurant in New York; and Daniyel Jones, global brand ambassador for Angostura in Trinidad & Tobago.

Click through the following pages to see what they have to say.

Adriana Soley – bar manager, Andanada Restaurant, New York

“Just having one signature serve can limit what brands can do with their products”

When brands create a signature serve for consumers it enables the customer to become knowledgeable about the product, the pairing, and why these particular ingredients work.

However, I think the best option is to reinvent the original serve with a twist occasionally to ensure they keep consumers interested in their products. Though, of course, brands will need to be careful not to change the signature serve too often in case consumers get confused to a point where they are not able to remember any of them.

As I mentioned, signature serves are great at helping consumers to identify with the brand, but producers also need other signature drinks to show the overall versatility of the spirit.

When a brand sticks to only one signature serve it becomes boring for consumers and people who work in the trade. It’s always better to have a popular or top signature serve, as well as some extra cocktail recipes to support any different expressions of the spirit.

Just having one signature serve can limit what brands can do with their products, but if there is an array of different signature drinks, it allows them to play with a wide range of flavours, textures and pairings, which will ultimately appeal to more consumers.

Having said that though, there are definitely benefits to having a signature serve.

It’s a great way to enable the brand to engage easily with consumers and highlight particular flavours and ingredients that enhance the character of the brand.

As a bartender, I personally don’t find it less appealing to work with brands that have a signature serve as I think even the bartender gets a little bit of brand ambassador flair when they teach consumers about ‘the way’ to drink a particular spirit.

It certainly wouldn’t put me off – it’s just nice to change things up from time to time.

Daniyel Jones – global brand ambassador, Angostura, Trinidad & Tobago

“We have to educate consumers and this is when signature serves really play an important part”

Signature serves are a key element of marketing for spirit brands. I remember going to Brazil for research and it was apparent that there’s a need for education. We have to decide on activities to educate consumers and this is when signature serves really play an important part.

When you have a signature serve it brings the brand to life itself, because it’s all part of the education for the consumer and enables them to get the real experience. There is so much competition within the spirits industry so you have to show people what gives your product an edge. Why should they use our rum? Our bitters? Our amaro?

The thing with Angostura is we have a diverse portfolio. We’re in a position where we promote rum and bitters together; we don’t promote them as having individual identities.

However, our serves are designed to focus on different flavour profiles, so for the rum we are focusing more on the wood notes and with the orange bitters there’s the 1930 Dry Martini.

The key thing is that signature serves do not have to just contain one element; you could have a signature serve for a particular spirit and have five different versions of it. Also, if you connect the personality of your brand with heritage then that is something consumers can connect with too. For us, we are from Trinidad and we have the Caribbean, so we need to be able to showcase that in our signature serves.

You can also align your brand to a particular drink, such as the marketing strategy for Havana Club with the Mojito. For Angostura, our signature serves are really aligned to strong historical and very strong cultural influences.

Signature serves have the power to remind you of a particular drinking experience, and you always remember the feeling they give you.

If you can create a serve that gives you a memorable feeling, that will create brand loyalty.