It’s been a mixed year of fortune for the world’s leading spirit brands, but only a select few can achieve the prestigious status of Brand Champion 2013. For an international spirit brand to achieve over 10M/case sales a year is an amazing feat. Aligned branding strategies alongside local targeted marketing takes some organisation, not to mention the juggling of various import and tax regulations. Captain Morgan, led by its Spiced variant, became only the sixth international spirit brand to achieve the milestone in 2012 and joins the likes of Smirnoff, Absolut, Johnnie Walker, Jack Daniel’s and Bacardi. However what is truly remarkable about Captain Morgan’s achievement is that the majority of the brand’s sales come not from its core product, but from a flavoured variant. In fact Diageo launched Captain Morgan Spiced in new markets ahead of the Original. Describing the growth trend on spiced rum as “unstoppable," Diageo intends to target Australia as the Captain’s next port of call, although Asia will be left to super-premium rum brand Zacapa.
