Another busy period for world’s largest distiller. Let’s see, in last week or so Diageo announced $2.2 bil sale of Burger King, consolidation of wine & spirits distrib network to 1 distrib each in little states like NY, Calif, and Fla, and next major RTD intro: Smirnoff Black Ice. Distrib consolidation is just “phase 1” as Diageo calls it, involving about 30% of its volume basically handled by 2 distribs, Southern Wine and Spirits and Peerless. “The consolidation of our brands in these distributors is only the first step in implementing new ways of working with” distribs, wrote prexy Paul Clinton. Doesn’t affect beer and malternatives. And as it intros Smirnoff Black Ice, Diageo takes another crack at getting guys to go for RTDs. Big push in UK this fall, supposedly coming to US too.
Diageo on the Move; Smirnoff Black Ice
Publishing Info
- Newsletter: INSIGHTS Express
- Published: 08/01/2002
- Volume: 4
- Issue #: 39