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Gin Brand Champion 2020: Tanqueray

Tanqueray has closed the gap on its nearest rival – Bombay Sapphire

According to Euromonitor International, gin volumes showed little sign of fatigue with an 11.9% uptick in global sales last year, which should silence the naysayers asking whether the spirit’s bubble may burst.

While the rising sales of the juniper‐flavoured spirit were long seen as a passing trend, its meteoric rise looks set to continue for the coming years. Analysis firm CGA recently said there was “no end in sight to the remarkable revival of gin sales”.

With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that the majority of the category’s million‐case‐selling brands posted growth for 2019. The fastest growth rate for the category came from this year’s Gin Brand Champion, Tanqueray, which increased its volume sales by 11.9% to reach 4.5 million nine‐litre cases.

D‐J Hageman, global brand director at Tanqueray, attributes the brand’s 2019 success to its ability to “grow ahead of our competition in established markets like the UK and Spain, by supporting the exponential growth that we have seen in some of our newer gin markets like South Africa, Brazil and Mexico, and by igniting the beginning of the gin revolution in the US”.

The brand’s expansion into the ready‐to‐drink (RTD) category, its launch of innovations such as the Citrus Heart Cocktail Bitters and the latest iteration of its Unmistakably Tanqueray campaign have all aided the brand’s growth, which has seen Tanqueray close the gap on its nearest rival – Bacardi‐owned Bombay Sapphire.

“Innovation has always been, and will always be, important to Tanqueray,” says Hageman. “The RTDs are a fantastic example of bringing exciting news to the category and meeting consumer needs about being able to enjoy a premium, bar‐quality G&T in the comfort of their own home, but doing it in the premium way that consumers expect from Tanqueray.”

Despite a hugely saturated category that has seen countless new gins and flavoured bottlings launch during the past year, Hageman and the Tanqueray team believe that consumer interest in the sector remains undimmed.

Hageman says: “Gin is a vibrant category, with a huge number of new flavours, innovations and brands launching around the world. We have also seen consumers begin to experiment more, and lots of interest in gin cocktails such as the Negroni, French 75 and the classic Martini.”

Of course, Tanqueray hopes to sustain its growth, and Hageman says the boom in global cocktail culture could help drive new consumers to the million‐case‐selling brand. “We have a strong footprint in a lot of the major gin markets, and will aim to continue to be the bartender’s favourite gin as we have been for the last nine years,” he explains.

After expanding its offering to include orange‐ and strawberry‐flavoured gins, Pernod Ricard‐owned Beefeater also enjoyed double‐digit growth last year, growing volumes to 3.4m nine‐litre cases. Fortunes for its Pernod Ricard stablemate Seagram’s were less positive as the brand was the only gin to post a sales drop last year.

Elsewhere, Diageo‐owned Gordon’s posted another solid year of growth, up 3.6% to reach 6.7m nine‐litre cases. Innovation from William Grant & Sons in 2019 also clearly paid off, as the group’s Hendrick’s gin saw volumes soar by 8.5% to hit 1.4m nine‐litre cases.

*The Brand Champions data is listed to one decimal place for ease of reading, but the percentage changes are based on the full data supplied. All brand data is supplied in millions of nine-­litre cases.

Gin (figures: million 9l case sales)

BRAND OWNER 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 %+/-
Gordon’s Diageo 4.3 4.5 5.1 6.5 6.7 3.6%
Bombay Sapphire Bacardi 3.3 3.8 4.0 4.3 4.7 7.9%
Tanqueray Diageo 2.7 3.1 3.5 4.0 4.5 11.9%
Beefeater Pernod Ricard 2.7 2.8 2.8 3.1 3.4 10.1%
Seagram’s Pernod Ricard 2.5 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.6 -0.8%
Larios Beam Suntory 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.5 1.5 1.6%
Hendrick’s William Grant & Sons 0.8 1.0 1.1 1.3 1.4 8.5%

 

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