Grant’s drops VCCP from £5m global task

Spirits company William Grant & Sons has dropped Vallance Carruthers Coleman Priest (VCCP) from its estimated £5m global advertising account for Grant’s scotch whisky.

Spirits company William Grant & Sons has dropped Vallance Carruthers Coleman Priest (VCCP) from its estimated £5m global advertising account for Grant’s scotch whisky.

The move follows the family-owned company’s decision to increase the whisky brand’s marketing and advertising spend.

This is the second time the agency has been dropped by the company in less than a year. VCCP lost another William Grant brand – Glenfiddich – last year (MW July 8, 2004).

Grant’s is now looking for an agency local to its key markets in the south of Europe, including Greece and Portugal. A spokesman says that it is not searching for an agency based in the UK.

Before VCCP was dropped from the Glenfiddich account, it had been split between VCCP and the US-based agency Merkley & Partners, which is owned by Omnicom. Merkley & Partners continues to handle the global account for the single malt whisky.

William Grant reassessed its advertising strategy early last year when it ended a 30-year relationship with McCann Erickson.

The review followed the appointment of Simon Macdonald as managing director for William Grant in November 2003. Macdonald, a former Bass Beers marketer, joined from Citibank. The family-owned company also produces The Balvenie single malt and owns several other liquor brands including Wood’s 100 Old Navy Rum, Pölstar Vodka, and Hendrick’s Gin.