Online survey

We desided to look closer at customer's attitude to rum and run a 2 weeks-online survey.
Here are the results of it:

Trying to generate meaning

The history of rum is inseparably linked to the sea. While Captain Morgan capitalizes on the history of pirates and rum, Barcardi has evolved to associate the drink with a more distinguished image. The publicities of captain morgan tend to focus more on funny situations that sometimes includes Captain Morgan the character while Bacardi presents its products as being chic and classy. This is a perfect example of two brands selling a similar product that uses opposite signification to advertise. They both refer to tradition but in a different way. Barcardi uses tradition to illustrate the expertise and the sophistication of the brand. Captain Morgan uses tradition to illustrate that they kept the roots of the liquor but with a humorist touch. Hence, Captain Morgan sells dark and spicy rums, darker rums are often associated more with authenticity and legacy. Bacardi also sells dark rums, but their ads campaigns mostly focus on white rum based products. (Overall, dark rum sales are declining while white rum sales are rising.)

The brands are more symbolic than functional. The competition is very intense in the alcohol industry and companies have to find a way to differentiate themselves among others. Despite the new flavours, these brands focus on emotions to sell. They are trying to generate a meaning that talks to people. The sociocultural aspect is important.  Despite the fact that they focus on different aspects in their advertisement, Bacardi and Captain Morgan are both trying to associate their products with a lifestyle; partying, having fun, being with friends.

Do you love rum, Survey time!

Please let us know what you think about rum by answering our survey! :)

http://freeonlinesurveys.com/rendersurvey.asp?sid=j9xflhc89k4wj9p1006384

Competitor Brand "MYER'S RUM" The Vintage Advertisements.

MYER'S Rum is produced by Diageo PLC.

Myers's Original Dark is supposedly considered to be darker than any dark rum.
Myers's Platinum is Jamaican white light rum. This platinum adds flavour to cola, juices and blended drinks.
Myers's Legend is 100% Jamaican pot still rum aged 15 years.

Myer’s is commonly used for mixed drinks.

A COMPETITOR BRAND in the Market
MOUNT GAY RUM " The Rum that invented Rum"

It is the oldest Rum brand in the world existing since 1703

Mount Gay Rum is the emblem of BARBADOS and its Lifestyle.

Mount Gay brings together passion and spirit for the sea. The Mount Gay lovers wear a red cap to signify their link to this rum brand and to the sea which is common in sailors. The sailing world refers to this Rum brand as their drink.

Mount Gay Rum has 4 types of medium-bodied rum collection with key aromas which are ripe banana, sweet almond, Moka and vanilla.

Mount Gay Rum is Barbados!

Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

Pirates. The word conjures images that have been with us for centuries: a white skull and cross-bones on a flag of black silk; a parrot on the captain’s shoulder; buried treasure; daggers clenched in teeth; walking the plank; eye patches; black-bellied schooners roving free under a Caribbean moon and of course – a lot of Rum…

Pirates drank while eating, they drank while sailing, they drank before, during, and after fighting. People molested by pirates routinely complained that their oppressors smelled of two things: tar and rum.

The word Rum produces close association with pirates in Connotative system of many cultures. This makes pirates a great tool in the marketer’s hands.

Think pirate and you probably get an image in your head of Henry Morgan. Why? Because his name and face appears on the label of the second biggest-selling brand of rum in the world.

Morgan never made rum. His image was borrowed by Seagram’s as a marketing ploy in the early 1980s. But even though he never made his own rum, Morgan did make a tremendous effort to drink as much of it as humanly possible. On a typical evening he could tip six pints of the stuff and show no exterior effects at all.

Handsome, genial, and well-educated, Henry Morgan moved with ease through high society (King Charles II was his personal friend), but his first love was the high seas. He was an expert seaman and, unlike his contemporary, Captain Kidd, his crew loved him.

There has always been some question as to whether or not Morgan was a pirate at all. He always carried a letter of marque from the British crown, after all, and confined his attacks to Spanish shipping, striking blows for king and country. On the other hand, his fleet was made up of ships captained by known pirates and he never hesitated to use pirate-style trickery and brutality to achieve his goals. He was also, at age 32, made admiral of a group called the Brethren of the Coast, a loose confederation of pirates and privateers who, sailing the Caribbean, became known as the Buccaneers.

Flashback

In the 17th century on the sugarcane plantations of the Caribbean, the first distillation of rum took place. Slaves on the plantations discovered that molasses, a by-product of sugar, could be fermented into alcohol. The first pure rums were produced when distillation of these by products removed the impurities.

It is believed that rum first originated on the island of Barbados. The drink’s popularity quickly spread to North America. The first distillery was established on what is now Staten Island. Three years later, Boston had its own distillery. The manufacturing of rum became a lucrative industry. Plenty of lumber and superior metalworking and technical skills helped New England advance as a large distillery center. The rum produced in New England was lighter and had a more pleasant aroma.

Today there are many grades of rum. The variations depend on where the rum is produced. Light rum, Aaso called silver or white rum, is sweet with a mild flavor. After aging, light rums are often filtered to remove color. Light rums often come from Puerto Rico.

Gold rum, also referred to as amber rum, is aged longer and in wooden barrels. They are stronger and have more flavor than white rums.

Spiced rum gets its flavor from spices such as aniseed, pepper cinnamon and rosemary. Sometimes caramel is used also.

Dark rum, also known as black, brown or red rum, is aged in heavily charred barrels for a longer period of time.

Flavored rums are often infused with flavors such as coconut, banana, lime, and mango. These rums are less than 40% alcohol and are frequently used in tropical drinks.

Over proof rums have more than 60% alcohol and are considered premium boutique rums. They are very carefully produced and are often consumed straight.

A few statistics

In 2004-2005, 85% of the French citizen, aged between 12-75, sad they have drank alcohol at least one time during the year. Only 8% of the French citizens declared never have had a drink in their lives. During that year, among the people who drank alcohol, the consumption of wine was the most popular with 77% fallowed by spiritueux with 56% and finally beer with 53%. Alcohol is a pretty large and widespread market where competition is intense. To target a market segment, companies have to understand their consumers. Studies have shown that the consumption of alcohol is greater for the man with 20% of them saying they drink alcohol everyday compare to 7% of the women. On the other hand, occasional consumption is more popular for women with 41% compare to only 15 % for the men. In terms of quantities consumed, the gender gap is also very strong: men drank an average of 2.6 drinks on the last day they consumed alcohol, against 1.8 for women.[1]

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[1] http://www.alcoolinfoservice.fr/La-consommation-d-alcool-des.html

Overall description of the alcohol market

Alcohol is a very popular product among people of all ages. Pretty much all kinds of alcohol, are associatedwith partying, having fun, celebration and being with friends in an enjoyableatmosphere. You probably tasted a few brands of rum before without noticingthat behind each sip you’ve taken, there is a whole world with its owncharacteristics. In fact, the competition is very fierce in the alcoholindustry and the rum sector is not an exception. Moreover, in France, the Evinlaw limits the wrights to advertise alcoholic beverages in order to protectyoung people from the influence of marketing campaigns. Also, the new lawsencourage consumers to reduce their consumption of alcohol especially on theroad to limit the number of accidents. In fact, the overall consumption ofalcohol per capita decreased; from 1960 to 2001,in the average foodbudget, the share of spending on alcoholic beverages fell from 12.4% to 8.9%.

Welcome Message - Rum Blog

Hello everyone and welcome on the Rum Blog,

this blog is created in parallel with the Strategic brand management course given in SKEMA Business School - Campus Sophia Antipolis. The purpose of the blog is to share our knowledge about brand strategy by applying it into a specific market. We chose the rum industry because we find that it is a dynamic, entertaining and interesting market to explore.

In order to study how the brands are managed, we decided to chose and develop the strategy of 3 different rum companies; Captain Morgan, Bacardi and Havana Club.

In order the develop our ideas, the blog will use 3 main topics:

• The overall market 
• The customer insight
• The competition

Theses topics will help us to go further in the analysis and answer more specific subjects through an entertaining presentation. 

Thanks for reading us and enjoy the blog !