By Andrew Starke
Some of the world’s biggest spirits brands returned to volume growth over 2010 with international spirits giants like Pernod Ricard and Diageo dominating a new list of fastest growing brands.
According to information released by the International Wine & Spirit Research (IWSR) database, Diageo’s Johnnie Walker Scotch was the largest growth brand of all international spirits by volume.
After Smirnoff vodka and Bacardi rum, Johnnie Walker is the third-largest international spirits brand in the world and the number one Scotch globally.
In 2010, global sales were up by 1.2m cases and topped 15.5m nine-litre cases in total.
This volume includes the entire Johnnie Walker range with over 70 percent of the iconic brands volume growth coming from three markets: Brazil, Duty Free/Travel Retail and Mexico.
Duty Free/Travel Retail is the largest single market for Johnnie Walker at 1.8m cases, while the US is the largest domestic market for the brand with sales static at 1.5m cases.
Pernod Ricard’s Absolut vodka was the second-largest growth brand but remains the second-largest international vodka in the world and fourth international spirits brand overall.
Absolut gained over 500,000 cases to reach 11m cases over 2010 – its highest volume ever.
75 percent of Absolut’s volume gain came from three markets: Duty Free/Travel Retail (the single-largest growth market and second-largest for Absolut overall), Brazil and the US, the largest market for the brand at over 4.5m cases.
Smirnoff became the third-fastest growth brand after declining in 2009.
The brand grew by 2.3 percent in 2010 (equivalent to more than 500,000 cases) to reach a global total of 24.4m cases.
Smirnoff’s largest growth markets were Brazil, the UK and India.
All top three growth brands had Brazil as one of their top three growing markets, highlighting the importance of emerging markets for international brands.
Out of the top 10 largest growth brands in international spirits, Pernod Ricard has four brands, Diageo three and Beam Global, Brown-Forman and LVMH one each.