Interview: Edrington Global Travel Retail’s Jeremy Speirs on the never-ending premiumisation journey

Introduction: Edrington Global Travel Retail Managing Director Jeremy Speirs discusses Highland Park’s brand revamp, The Macallan’s 200th anniversary milestone and Edrington’s renewed focus on premiumisation.

Edrington Global Travel Retail recently introduced travel retail-exclusive packaging for Highland Park’s 14, 16 and 18 Year Old single malt whiskies as part of a wider revamp for the brand. The design takes inspiration from the distillery’s creative heritage and its home in Orkney, Scotland.

The packaging features subtle strata patterns inspired by Orkney heather and reflecting the archipelago’s distinctive environment across land, sea and sky. The new editions include the 14 Year Old Land of Orkney, 16 Year Old Sea of Orkney and 18 Year Old Sky of Orkney.

Commenting on the thinking behind and timing of the rebrand, Speirs says: “Highland Park is not a young brand; it’s 226 years old. It’s one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland and the whisky itself is phenomenal.

“However, we wanted to broaden our appeal for the brand, to engage a slightly wider audience. We wanted to showcase its home in Orkney, which is very distinctive in the Scotch whisky world.

“Highland Park is the most northernly Scotch whisky house, just about 60 miles off the mainland,” he adds. “Orkney is very rugged with no trees because the strong winds blow them over. It’s a special landscape that has a massive impact on the flavour of the liquid.

“With this rebrand, we wanted to bring the brand’s home to the forefront and highlight what makes it what it is, and all the different elements that go into that. So, featuring this in our packaging and in our product – talking about the land, sea and sky of Orkney – we are making the brand more contemporary.

“Hopefully the rebrand will appeal to a more diverse audience base because whisky consumers themselves have become more diverse. Our old packaging was quite dark, Viking-inspired and very masculine and so people often had the misconception that Highland Park was a very heavy whisky, whereas it’s actually light with a lot of floral notes which is down to the heather, which is special in Orkney.”

In Orkney, the Gulf Stream contributes to a temperate climate ideal for whisky ageing, while the windy conditions limit tree growth, resulting in peat infused with floral heather. This combination of natural and cultural factors contributes to Highland Park’s distinctive character and flavour.

He says: “This heather is what creates the peat, and we use peat to dry the barley and because it’s heather peat, you get a lighter and more floral flavour. It is a flavour you will only find in Orkney. We wanted to make that USP come through in the packaging.”

With such a major brand revamp, how is Edrington bringing this USP to life at the point-of-sale? Speirs says: “Natural colour is key. We’ll use a lot of natural colour and a lot of engagement tools as well.

“The natural colour is quite appealing. It is lighter and it says that the liquid itself is lighter and more floral. We will then bring that to life through tastings, but also through various engagement tools that we’ll have within our retail spaces.

“We’ll have sensorial, educational tools that highlight Highland Park’s distinctive flavour and bring that to life through trained Brand Ambassadors and liquid to lips. We need to ensure that the whole look and feel and the repositioning comes to life across our spaces.

“We are going to invest quite heavily behind this, to make sure that we get that story out there. We’re going to push this out early 2025 with a lot of activation happening from April.”

The Colour Collection

Activations play a major role in Edrington Global Travel’s marketing approach in the channel, with the recent The Macallan Colour Collection campaign making a big impact at Singapore Changi, Mexico City International (Benito Juárez International Airport), Los Angeles International and Istanbul airports, among others.

According to Speirs, blockbuster activations such as this will continue to play a big role in Edrington’s strategy moving forward, including for Highland Park.

“We’re really proud of what we’ve achieved with The Macallan Colour Collection. It was three to four years in the making and we’ve put our hearts and souls into it to come back with a travel retail-exclusive age-statement range and unify the offer.”

The Macallan Colour Collection comprises five single malt Scotch whiskies. The range spans all the natural colours of the whisky spectrum, showcasing the natural hues derived from maturation. It begins with the golden oak-toned 12 Year Old, 15 Year Old, 18 Year Old and 21 Year Old, all the way to the burnished chestnut of the 30 Year Old.

Reflecting on the success of the campaign, Speirs says: “We’re actually almost a year on and are doing further activations, whether it’s Out of Home or in-store. We are trying to make sure that we keep this news about the brand fresh and appealing.

“From a performance perspective, it has had an astounding effect and positive effect on the business. We’ve nearly doubled our return from the brand in the channel and that’s with significantly less distribution. We are focusing on fewer locations with bigger activations and trying to elevate the experience further.

“That’s present in our permanent visibility, shop-in-shops, large-format retail and flagship boutiques, including our recent shop-in-shop in Hainan. We’ve also put shop-in-shops into airports in Delhi and Istanbul.

“This shows real intent from us to try and build our visibility and ensure we are building distribution,” he adds. “We have a real strong footprint and we’re investing to create a truly elevated experience for the consumer, because we don’t want consumers just to see the brand we want people to engage with the brand.

“For us, that is about putting staff on the ground, making sure they’re well educated in terms of brand story and can engage with the consumer. They must listen to what their needs are and maybe help navigate them towards the range and find out which product is right for them.”

200 Years Young

Notably, The Macallan is marking its 200th anniversary with a series of initiatives and launches under the banner ‘200 Years Young’, which honours the brand’s past and looks to its future.

Speirs explains: “The whole campaign is around being 200 years young, which in itself probably tells a story. We are very fortunate to be here looking after this brand. To me, we are just the guardian of the brand and hopefully guiding it down a virtuous path for the next 200 years.

“We’re very fortunate that the decisions our predecessors made on the brand – whether it be the sherry seasoning of the cask or the natural colour – allow us to create an elevated product and experience.”

200 Years Young kickstarted with a special Cirque du Soleil performance last summer and will continue with a series of dynamic activations in the channel.

To mark its 200th year, The Macallan has launched a range of super-premium whiskies in celebration of what brand owner Edrington describes as “the brand’s interpretation of time travel”.

The liquids, from the new TIME : SPACE Collection, are available in global travel retail at select high-profile airports, supported by a major launch campaign.

The first whisky is TIME : SPACE, a dual-chamber vessel that includes the oldest whisky released by The Macallan at 84 years old, as well as a second single malt, the first to be released from the brand’s new distillery (2018). Only 200 bottles of the product, one for each year of The Macallan’s history, are available.

“We have two ground-breaking products in the TIME : SPACE collection,” says Speirs. “They are circular bottles, with a lot of storytelling. This range celebrates the 14 different cask types that we have. Looking back over the history that we’ve used with Macallan over the years, we’ve then brought all those together into this beautiful product.

“This is our oldest whisky ever together with our youngest whisky from our new distillery, which opened in 2018. So we have an 84 Year Old whisky with a 5 Year Old whisky. It’s telling that whole circular story of our oldest and our youngest.”

This also tells the story of how The Macallan is investing in the future. “If you think about the £140 million investment we put into the distillery five years ago, it was groundbreaking. Hopefully this sets the foundation for the next 200 years.”

Edrington recently announced an agreement to sell The Famous Grouse and Naked Malt Scotch Whisky brands to William Grant & Sons. Edrington said the divestment marks the next stage of the company’s mission to be the world’s best at crafting exceptional ultra-premium spirit brands.

Speirs comments: “I’ve been in the business over 20 years, so I’m emotionally tied to both of these brands, especially Famous Grouse. It has been a cornerstone of our business, and it’s a much-loved brand.

“The higher end of the category is what has driven our growth and that is brands such as Highland Park and The Macallan. That’s where we see the future growth opportunities.

Premiumisation, according to Speirs, will continue to be the big push for Edrington Global Travel now and in the future. “It is a never-ending journey. This has been expressed with our rebrand of Highland Park and our activities with The Macallan, but we’re always looking to elevate that experience.

“This journey will be never ending, but we’re certainly going to continue on that, and I think the results speak for themselves.” ✈