Diageo credits Captain Morgan ads for sales lift

Diageo has credited its winter marketing campaign for rum brand Captain Morgan for helping boost sales.

Captain Morgan

Sales of the spirt in the UK were boosted by 15 per cent in the six months to 30 December, buoyed by the brand’s “Got a little Captain in You” and “Where Flavour is King” campaigns that ran towards the end of last year.]

The company directed its marketing investment towards “strategic brands” in the period, which also helped drive double digit growth of Tanqueray gin and Johnnie Walker Black Label whisky in the UK. Marketing spend in Europe decreased 6 per cent year on year to £234m.

Overall revenue at the group, which also owns the Smirnoff and Guinness brands, grew 5 per cent to £6.01bn in the period. Profit grew 11 per cent to £2.01bn.

The group’s strongest growth was in developing markets, which now account for 42 per cent of its sales. In these territories, the group grew marketing spend by 5 per cent.

Paul Wash, Diageo chief executive, says: “These results reflect the global strength of our strategic brands, our leadership in the US spirits market and our increasing presence in the fastest growing markets of the world. Our expanding reach to emerging middle class consumers in faster growing markets was the key driver of our volume growth, while net sales growth was driven by our pricing strategy and premiumisation, especially in the US.”

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