Grant’s Steps up to the Podium

Overview

In 2006, Grant’s was the fourth largest global blended whisky brand that, although supported by an active marketing campaign, suffered from lack of direction.

Challenge

The brief to LFH was to transform the brand into a credible ‘Scotch whisky brand’ with a distinctive and compelling personality, making it an active choice for consumers.

Illumination

We concluded that there was an opportunity for Grant’s to position itself as a brand with more substance and depth and identified a new narrative of success and an archetype that fitted with Grant’s attributes and changing, more emergent consumer attitudes. The change to a rich burgundy as the key brand colour is rooted in the past whilst being bold, fresh and new; it is differentiating and ownable and creates shelf stand out. The new label shape is more single-minded and less fussy whilst retaining its heraldic cues, and the new bottle design builds on the iconic triangular shape and highlights the brand’s authenticity and quality.

Result

Launched in March 2007, by 2010 the brand had met all targets set and grown ahead of the category achieving a +16% increase in sales compared to 2006, whilst the global market only managed a 2% increase. The extra sales earned were equivalent to £290 million. Recently, Grant’s took to the podium of standard blended Scotch whiskies, becoming the world’s number three in retail value, selling in 2010, 4.8 million cases with a retail value of $1 billion (£650 million). This represented more than a 30% increase in retail value compared to base year, 2006.

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