Global boost for Irish whiskey sales as Scottish distillery opens Dublin office

By Joe Dermody

Wednesday, September 08, 2010

SCOTTISH distillery William Grant & Sons (WG&S) has opened aglobal marketing officein Dublin, with a campaign for Tullamore Dew Irish whiskey as the first item on the agenda.

This follows the €300 million acquisition in July of C&C’s portfolio of Irish spirits and liqueur brands. These include Tullamore Dew, for which WG&S is commissioning an international TV, print and outdoor advertising drive, managed from Dublin.

The 17 professionals in WG&S’s Dublin office will also promote non-Scotch brands such as Sailor Jerry and Hendrick’s Gin. Dublin will also lead global planning and innovation. The company’s London office will continue to manage its Scotch whisky brands – Glenfiddich, The Balvenie and Grant’s. Both offices will be overseen by group marketing director Maurice Doyle.

WG&S chief executive Stella David said: "The establishment of a global marketing office in Dublin underlines our strong commitment to Ireland and the rapid progress we have made since first establishing ourselves here earlier this year.

"We are assembling a very strong team to market our core non-Scotch brands throughout the world, as well as to drive our overall innovation agenda. Our recent acquisition of Irish brands, focusing on Tullamore Dew, is now well embedded and we look forward to strong growth over the next 12-18 months."

Joining WG&S in Dublin are Enda O’Sullivan as Sailor Jerry’s global brand director, Gemma Adams as brand manager, Sailor Jerry; and Alison Hunter and Deirdre Clarke as marketing manager and brand manager respectively for Hendrick’s Gin.

This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Wednesday, September 08, 2010