‘Royal Salute is not just an Asian brand’

Royal Salute is becoming less dependent on Asian demand and extending its range with a new limited edition to strengthen its ties with polo.

Royal Salute World Polo Limited Edition hopes to benefit from China’s Year of the Horse from 31 January 2014

Speaking yesterday at the launch of the luxury Scotch’s latest range extension called Royal Salute World Polo, global brand director for the whisky, Neil Macdonald stated, “Royal Salute is not just an Asian brand now.”

Continuing, he recorded, “If you look at the growth opportunity of prestige whisky, it is very closely correlated to GDP growth, so that includes South America and parts of Africa.”

With close links to polo, Royal Salute is also benefitting from the increasingly global spread of this sport, which attracts significant numbers of high net worth individuals (HNWI), according to Macdonald.

“Polo has been a fantastic platform for us,” stated Macdonald, speaking of the brands sponsorship of the sport for the past six years.

“We started in China, then India, then The Gulf and now we support 15 different events in four continents,” he said.

Such is the growing following for the sport in China, Macdonald recorded the construction of an entirely new Polo club in Beijing two years ago called the Tang Polo Club, where the Scotch holds the annual Royal Salute China Open.

He also said that Royal Salute use its sponsorship of Polo events to host the brand’s “VIP connsumers from around the world”.

“Royal Salute is spreading gradually its footprint around the world,” he commented, adding that the Scotch was one of 14 strategic brands in the portfolio of brand owner, Pernod Ricard, and a luxury spirit that is regarded by the company’s senior management as “a bit of a jewel”.

Looking ahead, Macdonald forecasted success for the new Polo limited edition in China, despite the current slowdown in luxury brown spirits consumption in the country, primarily due to reduction in government-sponsored banquets and gift giving in response to allegations of corruption and overt displays of wealth among state officials.

He foresees growth because, he said, “Next Chinese New Year is the Year of the Horse so this will be an appropriate place to use an edition like this [Royal Salute World Polo].”

The new World Polo special edition contains a special batch of Royal Salute 21 Year Old with packaging designed to celebrate the international footprint of polo, featuring The Royal Salute Polo Cup in Jeju, Korea; The Maharaja of Jodhpur Golden Jubilee Cup in Jodphur; India, The Royal Salute China Open in Bejing, China, and The Royal Salute Jubilee Cup in Greenwich, USA.

The Royal Salute World Polo Limited Edition will be rolled out both domestically and in travel retail from December this year and will retail for US$150.

Listed below are locations of Royal Salute polo events:

Argentina Campeonato Abierto De Polo Argentina, Beunos Aires
Columbia Copa Uribe, Bogota, Columbia
China Royal Salute China Open, Tang Polo Club,  Beijing
India Royal Salute Maharaja of Jodhpur, Golden Jubilee Cup
Italy Polo Gold Cup,  Cortina d’Ampezzo
Korea Royal Salute Polo Club, Jeju Country Club, Jeju
Singapore Japanese Cup, Singapore
Spain Landrover International Tournament, Santa Maria Polo Club, Sotogrande
UAE Royal Salute Nations Cup, Desert Palm Resort,  Dubai
UK Westchester Cup, Guards Polo Club, Windsor, UK
USA Royal Salute Jubilee Cup, Greenwich Polo Club, Connecticut