Baileys gets lower-alcohol PPS spin-off

Diageo GB is giving Baileys its first range extension, with the launch this week of Baileys Glide, a lower-alcohol, “long” version of the liqueur.

Diageo marketing director for innovation Nick Robinson says: “We’re taking Baileys’ strengths and building on them.” According to Robinson, sales of the core brand have doubled in the past five years, with the launch of Baileys Minis – four-packs of 70ml bottles – putting the drink into “a more accessible format” (MW August 16). He adds, “Research identified opportunities to take Baileys into more drinking occasions by altering the product slightly.”

Baileys Glide is four per cent alcohol by volume, about a quarter of the strength of the core product, which is 17 per cent. Glide is slightly less viscous than the original, and has added vanilla, although Robinson stresses that it is “still unmistakably Baileys”. While it could strictly be classified as a premium packaged spirit, he says the brand is not intended to take on the likes of Smirnoff Ice or Bacardi Breezer: “It is a PPS, but we’re not targeting ‘high-energy’ drinking occasions – it’s for a more relaxed session.”

The product goes into limited onand off-trade test this week. Baileys is the UK’s eighth-largest selling spirit and the ninth-biggest globally.