Viveat Susan Pinto
Marketing

UB charts out aggressive marketing, promotions for Bagpiper

The company has appointed film star Sanjay Dutt as Bagpiper’s new brand ambassador with the agenda of engaging the consumer

Sanjay Dutt will be the new brand ambassador for Bagpiper, the largest selling whisky in India. Dutt replaces Akshay Kumar, who had been promoting the whisky brand for the last two years.

Dutt, who has acted in some 100-odd Hindi movies and is known for his macho image, will endorse Bagpiper for a year, says Alok Gupta, executive vice-president, marketing, UB Spirits Division. A new TVC will go on air in June.

What's more, the company hopes to turn a new leaf with the June campaign. The familiar slogan – Khoob jamega rang, jab mil baithenge teen yaar. Aap, mein aur Bagpiper – will remain, but the company hopes to play around with its execution.

“The brand epitomises being macho and stylish”, says Gupta, “and we intend getting Bagpiper right in the forefront.”

Along with the TVC that will run for about ten weeks, UB will also kick off aggressive on-ground promotions just after the monsoons and in the run-up to Diwali. “The idea is to engage the consumer,” says Gupta.

It is this need to engage the consumer, which the company believes could help the brand stand out of the clutter of whisky advertising and promotions.

Traditionally, Bagpiper has been known for its association with Bollywood, and that, as Gupta says, has been its greatest trump card. “Bagpiper reaches out to the masses, and in a country passionate about movies, there can be no better association,” he says.

Targeted primarily at drinkers in the SEC B and C segments, Bagpiper’s road to success has been on the back of aggressive pricing, slick packaging and its availability in various quantities.

Its overall market share at the moment is 30 per cent, with the north and south regions of the country contributing heavily. The brand achieved sales of about 8 million cases in the last fiscal and intends maintaining its lead in the current year too.

Some other players, who operate in the whisky space besides Bagpiper, include McDowell’s No.1 and Gilbey’s Green Label. Unlike Bagpiper, whose advertising is aspirational, McDowell’s communication revolves around the “man of values”, while Gilbey’s plays up the “spirit of achievement”. The latter signified in the line – Kuch pana hai, kuch kar dikhana hai. © 2005 agencyfaqs!

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