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Royal Stag

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Royal Stag
File:Royal Stag Barrel Logo.jpg
Type Indian whisky
Manufacturer Pernod Ricard
Distributor Pernod Ricard
Country of origin India
Introduced 1995
Alcohol by volume 42.8%
Colour Brown
Flavour Strong malty flavour
Ingredients Indian grain spirits, Scotch malt
Variants
  • Royal Stag
  • Royal Stag Barrel Select
Related products
Website Pernod-Ricard.com/Royal-Stag

Royal Stag, also known as Seagram's Royal Stag, is a brand of Indian whisky, owned by Pernod Ricard India, and launched in 1995. It is Pernod Ricard's best selling brand. It is a blend of Indian grain spirits and imported Scotch malts. It is commonly available in 1 L, 750 ml, 375 ml and 180 ml bottles and also available in 90 ml and 60 ml bottles. The brand is named after a species of deer famous for its antlers, that is also featured in its logo. It is produced in several company-owned as well as bottler-owned distilleries. It is the first Indian whisky brand to not use any artificial flavour.

Pernod Ricard has identified Royal Stag along with Imperial Blue, Blenders Pride, Chivas Regal and 100 Pipers as the company's five core brands to build its spirits business in India. Royal Stag sold 12.3 million cases in 2011, toppling Absolut Vodka, to become Pernod Ricard's biggest selling brand in its global portfolio of alcoholic beverages. Royal Stag sold 16.1 million cases in 2014.

History

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Main article: Seagram § History

Royal Stag was launched in India in 1995 by Canadian liquor giant Seagram.[1][2][3] It is named after a deer species known for long antlers.[4][5] It is the first Indian whisky brand to not use any artificial flavour.[6][7] The whisky is a blend of Indian grain spirits and imported Scotch malts.[6] Seagram's global business was jointly acquired by Pernod Ricard and Diageo in December 2000. The two companies later split Seagram's business based on the previously announced framework agreement signed between them.[8][9]

In the calendar year 2001, Royal Stag was selling over 125,000 cases per month[10] and sold approximately 1.75 million cases in 2002.[11] The brand's annualised sales during the 2004 calendar year crossed 3 million cases,[12] and increased to nearly 4 million cases in 2006.[13] Royal Stag was ranked second among Indian spirits brands in Impact International's 2008 list of "Top 100 Brands at Retail Value" with a retail value of US$505 million.[14] The brand reported sales of 8 million cases in 2009 and nearly 10.6 million cases in 2010.[15]

Royal Stag sold 12.3 million cases in 2011, toppling Absolut Vodka which sold 11.3 million cases, to become Pernod Ricard's biggest selling brand in its global portfolio of alcoholic beverages.[16]

Pernod Ricard India launched a more premium version of Royal Stag, called Royal Stag Barrel Select in December 2011. It is priced significantly higher than Royal Stag and positioned between deluxe and premium segment.[17] It is developed by the UK based international branding and packaging consultants CARTILS.[18]

Marketing

Royal Stag is placed in the deluxe segment of the Indian whisky market and is priced to target the upper middle class aged 25–40 years.[19] The brand's main national competitor, at its price point, is United Spirits Ltd's McDowell's No.1 whisky.[20] Royal Stag also faces competition from Radico Khaitan's 8 PM Royale,[21] Mason & Summers' "Royal Crown",[22] United Spirits Ltd's Royal Mist whiskies[23] and Allied Blenders & Distilleries (ABD)'s Officer's Choice Black.[24] Pernod Ricard has identified Royal Stag along with Imperial Blue, Blenders Pride, Chivas Regal and 100 Pipers as the company's five core brands to build its spirits business in India. 5 brands have been divided in 2 categories, Chivas Regal and 100 Pipers come under "lifestyle business " category while rest of brands along with Royal Stag come under India-made foreign liquor (IMFL).[12] It is marketed in 1 L, 750 ml, 375 ml and 180 ml bottles and also available in 90 ml and 60 ml bottles.[25]

Advertising alcoholic beverages is banned in India as per the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Amendment Bill, which came into effect on 8 September 2000.[26][27] To circumvent the ban liquor manufacturers use surrogate advertising or develop associate properties.[28] Royal Stag uses three themes – Mega Movie, Mega Music and Mega Cricket – to promote the brand.[29][30] According to Seagram India's vice-president of marketing Bikram Basu, "We've developed Royal Stag Mega Cricket and Royal Stag Mega Movies to promote the brand". Mega Cricket sells cricket gear, and sponsors cricket events, and Basu claims that Mega Movies sponsors "around 8–10 national releases of Hollywood movies every year." The brand often uses cricketers and Bollywood stars in its advertising. The brand's slogan is: "It's your life, make it large".[31]

Brand ambassadors

In 2002, Seagram signed eight cricketers to endorse Royal Stag, including Harbhajan Singh (India), Marvan Atapattu (Sri Lanka), Wasim Akram (Pakistan), Glenn McGrath (Australia), Jonty Rhodes (South Africa), Mervyn Dillon (West Indies), Stephen Fleming (New Zealand), and Andy Flower (Zimbabwe). The campaign was handled by Ogilvy & Mather. Seagram spent ₹2.5 crore (US$370,000) on this promotion.[32] Following this contract, in 2004, Pakistan Civil Court ruled that Wasim Akram had hurt sentiments of Muslims and was fined 25,000 Pakistani rupees (£238) and ordered to apologize the nation. While Akram's lawyer maintained stand that Akram had never appeared in any advertisement of alcoholic product.[33]

In 2006, a Royal Stag advert featuring Harbhajan Singh without his turban, with his hair tumbling down over his shoulders, outraged orthodox Sikhs, who burnt effigies in the city of Amritsar.[34] Sikh clergy and its representative body, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) demanded an apology from Singh and demanded that Pernod Ricard India withdraw the ad, which the SGPC termed, an "offensive representation which has hurt the feelings of Sikhs." Singh later apologised saying, "I apologise. In case I have hurt the feelings of my people, it was really not my intention."[35]

Other cricketers that have featured as brand ambassadors or have appeared in Royal Stag advertising include Gautam Gambhir, Jonty Rhodes, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ricky Ponting and Yuvraj Singh.[33][36]

On 10 February 2012, Pernod Ricard India announced its signing of iconic Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan as brand ambassador for Royal Stag. The company said that Shahrukh would work in tandem with another Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan, who had been the brand ambassador since several years.[37] South Indian movie star Mahesh Babu is also one of the brand ambassador of Royal Stag.[38]

In 2014 Pernod Ricard India announced its signing of Bollywood actors Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor as brand ambassadors. General manager of Marketing Raja Banerjee said that, "We firmly believe that the dynamic duo represents the dreams of this country and therefore would reinforce our brand positioning". However, they maintained that Shah Rukh Khan would continue to promote the brand.[39]

Sponsorship

The Royal Stag brand often sponsors musical and sporting events. It sponsored the Sahara Cup matches in Toronto, Canada from 1996 to 1999.[31] Under the name "Seagram's Royal Stag Mega Music", the brand sponsored a multi-city music tour featuring Strings, along with Saif Ali Khan (then brand ambassador) and Indian rock 'n roll band Parikrama in January 2008. Royal Stag is the title sponsor of the Mirchi Music Awards.[40]

Sales

In 2002, Seagram's Imperial Blue and Royal Stag were emerged as fasted growing brands in domestic market. Royal Stag saw 53% rise in its sale from 1.12 million cases in 2001 to 1.75 million case in 2002.[11] In 2010, Royal Stag first time crossed the mark of 10 million cases and Pernod Ricard became the first multinational company to cross this mark in India.[41] In 2013 calendar month, Royal Stag first time crossed retail sale worth more than $1 billion. It had a total of $1.3 billion in retail sale.[42] Royal Stag sold 16.1 million cases in 2014 and remained the third biggest-selling whisky in India from 2011 behind Officer's Choice and McDowell's No.1.[43]

The following table shows the annual sales of Royal Stag:

Year Sales (in million cases)
2001 1.12[44]
2002 1.75[44]
2004 3[12]
2006 4.2[45]
2007 5.6[45]
2008 6.8[45]
2009 8.4[45]
2010 10.4[43]
2011 12.5[43]
2012 14[43]
2013 14.8[43]
2014 16.1[43]

See also

References

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  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  43. ↑ 43.0 43.1 43.2 43.3 43.4 43.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  45. ↑ 45.0 45.1 45.2 45.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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