Friday, August 10, 2012

Kirin Gotemba's Stronger Marketing Presence




Kirin Gotemba appears to have jumped on the bandwagon and joined in on the massive highball campaign, which has become highly lucrative to all participating players in the regime. Just like Suntory and the brands ongoing and very familiar advertisements of their Kaku blend, Kirin Gotemba's house style blend; Fujisanroku 50 percent, which is reasonably good, has hit supermarkets in a way that is relatively new to the distillery's marketing strategy. Kirin's blend, which is certainly not new to the market, is starting to throw itself out there a little more than before. In participating supermarkets, well, perhaps I should say a few of the acclaimed branded supermarkets I have visited, Kirin Gotemba have began to establish their own promotional corner, stepped up on signage (including that of “how to enjoy” a Fujisanroku highball), and have even splashed a bit of cash and thrown in reasonable packaging, which in my experience is a rarity from the distillery for this blend. However, the big guns often introduce some sort of special package around promotion time that quickly disappears. Therefore, in my opinion, these Fujisanroku cartons will not be around on a permanent basis. Generally, no matter what retail establishment you visit, whether it is a liquor chain, independent whisky shop, or the humble supermarket, the majority of times only a handful of this house style blend is on offer in small volumes. In a welcoming way this has began to change. In one particular supermarket the Fujisanroku blend outweighed Kaku in terms of quantity. It would be nice to see the brand continue its campaign, it certainly adds a new visual experience when visiting supermarkets, and quite frankly it's a good change from the bombardment of yellow advertising that sports the mentioned blend: Kaku, which is likely the most recognizable blend to locals. Will this ever change and can it change? I'm still waiting to see the Fujisanroku blend in canned highballs, it has always been my predicament.

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