A New Royal Oak look has been the first we have heard from Angostura for a while. They have also changed the look of their flagship brands White Oak and Black Label and created a bold new bottle for 3 of their 4 top brands. This packaging face lift was long over due. But is it enough?
Here are some things they must also figure out:
How to remove the stigma that rum =’s cheap/low quality = rum shop = rum drinker = drunkard = “good for nothing” I’ve never heard a Scotch drinker referred to as a drunkard (or very rarely)- How to differentiate each brand. The bottle change campaign seems to bring all of these three brands together in one big glob, for although the models are different the message is the same. Drink this and you’ll get this. Sex sells for sure. There however needs to be greater sophistication, I think, in terms of how we deliver that message. And most importantly how we interpret it for each of the 3 brands. One ‘sex’ does not fit all. Clearly how we talk to the Royal Oak drinker must be vastly different to how we talk to the Black Label drinker (White Oak and Black Label are conceptually closer)
- How to change Rum’s cachet. Rum needs to get to the stage where it’s OK to be seen drinking rum. Not just in terms of the quality perception, but the cool factor. And maybe that’s what this campaign is going for, making rum cool. But it use of the identical vehicle purely in different colors works for the category but not for the brands. And Angostura does not sell categories
- How to connect to its various targets with less. Angostura will not have Carib’s budget so it will need to do more with less. That calls for them “picking their fights” well. You can only pick your fight well if you know what you want to be. There has to be clear single minded definition of what each brand wants to mean to its flock and then maniacal fidelity to that meaning in everything they do
Sex sells. And it sells even better when you know that your partner is faithful and not available to all.
