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R.L.Rajah, Chief Operating Officer of Diageo, India and South East Asia, made a comprehensive presentation on both Smirnoff and Diageo. Paul Topping, MD of Alpha Asia, the sole distributor of Smirnoff in Sri Lanka, and Mohan Tissanayagam, Managing Director of ID Lanka, the bottlers of Smirnoff, also addressed the trade audience |
SRI LANKA. The first locally produced bottles of Smirnoff vodka hit the shelves on 27 July 2005 across the island. The new Smirnoff product was also launched to the trade on the same day at a gala party held at the Ceylon Continental Hotel, Colombo.
More than 250 guests from the trade attended the party representing many leading hotels, bars, restaurants and outlets island-wide.
R.L.Rajah, Chief Operating Officer of Diageo, India and South East Asia, made a comprehensive presentation on both Smirnoff and Diageo. Paul Topping, Managing Director of Alpha Asia, the sole distributor of Smirnoff in Sri Lanka (and the country’s main duty free retailer), and Mohan Tissanayagam, Managing Director of ID Lanka, the bottlers of Smirnoff, also addressed the trade audience.
In his speech, Rajah said: “Sri Lanka is a very exciting market for us and we are extremely thrilled to be given an opportunity to retail our brands here. Our brands have been extremely successful across the world and we are confident to repeat the success in Sri Lanka.”
All guests had an opportunity to sample the local Smirnoff straight up and mixed as cocktails and shooters. Popular local band Misty entertained the crowd throughout the evening.
Smirnoff will be produced in Sri Lanka and distributed in Sri Lanka in three pack sizes – 750ml, 375ml, 180ml, priced at Rs950, Rs523 and Rs285, respectively – almost half the price it was sold at previously.
Diageo, together with Labels, plans to unveil Smirnoff in Sri Lanka through a comprehensive marketing plan, including on- and off-trade activities, a public relations campaign, new signature drinks and Smirnoff experience dance events, which have been held in cities around the world.
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