Barfly was briefed to develop a new drinks strategy for Grand Marnier, just after Campari Group’s $760m acquisition of the trademark.
Barfly initially engaged a number of international bartenders chosen for their understanding of the market and liqueur/cordial category, as well as their creativity and commercial awareness. These bartenders were fully briefed on Grand Marnier’s history, the current positioning and the specific serve types that needed to make up the overall drinks strategy.
Each bartender executed the brief delivering a full rationale, recipe and a ‘how to serve’ film for each drink, including the correct garnish and glassware in each case. All drinks were then evaluated against a number of agreed criteria in a client workshop, with a leading list of winning drinks chosen at the end of the process.
Finally, and most importantly, each of these drinks were then ‘road-tested’ through in-depth filmed interviews with bartenders in London, Paris, Ghent, New York, San Francisco, Atlanta and Toronto. This involved each of the bartenders making all of the proposed drinks and critiquing every element of the serve from a commercial and practical standpoint, as well as advising how the brand could best own each of the various creations.
The ‘Grand Cocktails’ – the collection of premium twists on classic cocktails using Grand Marnier – were successfully launched and remain a fundamental part of Grand Marnier’s strategy in continuing to grow both volume and share. They also now sit front and centre in much of brand’s trade and consumer communication.
