In spite of challenging economic headwinds, William Grant & Sons Australia successfully managed to retain strong sales volumes and market share over the course of 2024. According to Managing Director Colin Rochester, a key factor underpinning this success was the supplier’s careful and thoughtful approach to activating its brands both within Australia and globally.
Here, Colin reflects on some of the pivotal decisions made in the year gone by:
“As we end 2024, I would like to recognise our trade partners for their efforts and support in a challenging year. This year, William Grant & Sons Australia’s support to its partners has been again focussed on based on solid foundations; our values and principles of a global family owned business, building a winning team and culture and supporting our business and brand momentum throughout 2024.
Our commitment to brand building is a core strategic pillar for our business that is supported by a highly capable team and a continuing priority of brand investment in advocacy, activations and advertising campaigns that deliver significant reach into our Australian market. Looking back over the year, against challenging economic conditions, we saw a sustained local thirst for premium spirits and we continued to solidify our credentials as a leader in this space through both global liquid innovation and local brand partnerships.
Our Single Malt portfolio, headlined by Glenfiddich and The Balvenie, represented a key growth driver in this premium and luxury space through both organic sales growth, limited release innovation and collaborations. An example of our commitment to product innovation, was the launch of Glenfiddich Grand Château, an exquisite 31 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky, finished for an extended nine years in Bordeaux red wine casks. This limited edition was created in partnership with internationally renowned and genre-defining French graffiti artist André Saraiva, adding a globally relevant and truly contemporary take on an iconic brand.
Glenfiddich continued its successful partnership through Australian Fashion Week with Australian designer Jordan Gogos, amplified through a joint collaboration with ArtAid, building a pop-up Glenfiddich bar and art installation in the heart of Sydney CBD. We also continued our partnership with Melbourne Art Fair to ensure that we reach and recruit new consumer groups. From a retail perspective, Glenfiddich’s nation-wide Father’s Day and Christmas advertising, label personalisation and sampling programme provided the brand with increased relevance at the key sales and gifting periods, helping to recruit new consumers to the malt whisky category and brand.
The Balvenie is the perfect complement to a meal, and we built on this food-pairing strategy in 2024 with the fourth year of partnering with renowned Australian chef Lennox Hastie from the award-winning restaurant Firedoor. This partnership was extended to educate hospitality partners on the brand, culminating in a fully immersive Balvenie experience for our partners, bringing the Scottish distillery and Balvenie range to Australia’s Southern Highlands. A highlight of the year for The Balvenie was the opportunity to host an evening with invited guests and the Honorary Balvenie Ambassador and Former Malt Master David C. Stewart MBE, a true legend of the global Spirits industry who shared his experience of 60 years in the WG&S business.
Recognising the dedication of our global team to ultimate craftsmanship, another highlight of the year was WG&S winning three Double Gold, 31 Gold, 21 Silver and three Bronze medals for brands including Glenfiddich, The Balvenie, Tullamore D.E.W., Grant’s and Monkey Shoulder at the International Spirits Challenge (ISC) awards. WG&S was also recognised as ISC Distiller of the Year for the ninth year in a row. These industry-leading awards are known for setting the international benchmark for quality and recognising excellence in spirits worldwide and to achieve such an accolade year after year is a testament to our commitment to excellence.
One of the enduring strengths of WG&S in Australia is the strength of the portfolio. As a leading brand in the premium gin category, Hendrick’s Gin has continued to engage the refreshingly curious consumer through sponsorship of the prestigious Westpac OpenAir Cinema with the finest Hendrick’s cocktails. The launch of Hendrick’s Grand Cabaret continued our Cabinets of Curiosities range innovation as we capitalise on the customer opportunity in a stabilising gin category.
Our premium blended malt expression Monkey Shoulder continued its journey to disrupt the whisky category with standout activations at the Great Australian Beer Spectacular (GABS). In Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, Monkey Shoulder showed up big, bold and orange with the signature Ginger Monkey serve. The team extended this disruption into the on-trade with Monkey Shoulder Block Parties in national precincts to deliver the unique Monkey Message to the masses, a collective team effort across our business to support our on-trade partners with one of our most exciting and prominent mixable whisky brands.
Our dedication to the on-trade bartender community and customer base was continued through sponsorship of the Australian Bartender Of The Year (ABOTY) Final. This year’s event held on the Rooftop of Jackson's On George, also included the 100 Most Influential Trade awards ensuring attendees alongside previous ABOTY winners in an All Star line-up bar takeover and to celebrate the win by Joey Folkersma, of Hanky Panky Lounge, NT. The skill and professionalism of the participants was a highlight during a tough year for our on-trade partners and demonstrated the potential for growth in this segment of our business. For our WG&S Team to be recognised at the Australian Liquor Industry Awards (ALIA) with the award for Best On-Premise Supplier was testament to another strong year of support for the trade.
Into 2025, our challenges remain to stay ahead of the consumer and customer trends and to bring our brands to life in the most creative, distinctive, and engaging ways. With the breadth and depth of the portfolio across multiple categories and consumer occasions, we will remain focused on investing in building brands as we have since the first production of Glenfiddich in 1887.
On behalf of all of us at WG&S Australia, I thank you most sincerely for your ongoing support and wish you nothing but health, happiness and prosperity and a successful 2025.”
This article was written by Colin Rochester for Drinks Guide 2025, which was distributed nationwide in December and can be viewed digitally here. If you did not receive a physically copy and would like to be added to the Drinks Trade/Guide magazine mailing list, get in touch with the team now.
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