Diageo CEO Ivan Menezes insists the spirits giant must ‘innovate at scale’ to ensure a larger share of its growth stems from fewer launches along the lines of Haig Club whisky and Captain Morgan White Rum.
Diageo has confirmed circa. 200 job losses across its head office and regions as the Johnnie Walker and Guinness producer targets annual cost savings of around £200m by 2017.
Suntory’s $16bn takeover of Beam Inc. shocked many industry insiders but the likes of Diageo, Pernod Ricard and Bacardi likely sighed with relief, according to Rabobank.
Diageo plans to spend $115m on new Kentucky bourbon distillery and warehouses to distill the company current brands and future products, as it seeks to expand its share in the American whiskey category.
Irish police have seized equipment that reportedly forms part of an IRA fake vodka production racket running for more than two decades that copies brands including Smirnoff.
Diageo’s United Spirits has agreed to sell its whisky brand Whyte & Mackay to Philippines-based brandy business Emperador for £430M, following Office of Fair Trading (OFT) concerns.
Fever-Tree CEO Charles Rolls insists Schweppes is no longer the ‘great old British company it was’ and insists the brand is scared by his firm’s giant steps in premium spirits mixers.
David Beckham has come under fire for his whisky partnership with drinks business Diageo, which a charity says could send a ‘confusing message’ to children.
Drinks business Diageo has partnered with footballer David Beckham and British entrepreneur Simon Fuller for the launch of its Haig Club Single Grain Scotch Whisky.
Diageo is suing rum rival Heaven Hill Distillers in Canada claiming the Kentucky firm is infringing its Captain Morgan trademark with its Admiral Nelson's spiced rum.
Bacardi is unique among spirits brands as a ‘genius’ when it comes to harnessing digital, according to L2's Digital IQ Index, with its online presence a unique form of ‘competitive innovation’.
Diageo has hit back at Brown-Forman in an acrimonious dispute over the designation of ‘Tennessee Whiskey’ claiming its ‘Jack Daniel’s recipe law’ stifles innovation.
United Spirits will reportedly fetch £350m for its Whyte & Mackay whisky business in the UK, with rumours spreading that Gruppo Campari could be interested given its sizable war chest.
Exponent Private Equity has bought The Loch Lomond Distillery Company for an undisclosed sum and former Diageo chief finance officer Nick Rose is to chair the new business.
Diageo should ditch lucrative rum brand Captain Morgan altogether since the real life Captain left an orgy of bloodshed and violence across the Caribbean, Ben Bouckley argues.
Diageo brand Captain Morgan is smarting after the UK ads regulator banned an advert featuring the notorious buccaneer for encouraging ‘daring, tough and aggressive’ behavior.
spiritsEUROPE tells BeverageDaily.com that the EU is keen to seal a free trade agreement (FTA) with Vietnam to help members including Diageo, Beam Inc. and Pernod Ricard open up a ‘priority’ market.
Bacardi claims it has improved health and safety programs at its Jacksonville rum facility after it was fined $110,000 for a worker’s death but its group-wide manufacturing accident rate actually rose 10% in 2013.
Diageo admits Smirnoff lost US share to discounted rivals over the last half year as lower-income spirits drinkers continue to suffer from an ‘uneven’ economic recovery.
Suntory’s $16bn splurge to acquire Beam Inc. is significantly more than what rivals Diageo and Pernod Ricard would have paid for the bourbon giant, one analyst believes, but a seat at the US spirits table is at stake…
Diageo says its purchase of $1000+ per bottle ultra-premium brand DeLeón with rapper P.Diddy will accelerate its share of a fast-growing tequila market segment.
Diageo brand Captain Morgan says it is ‘bizarre how underdeveloped’ the global super-premium rum category is but insists it’s only a matter of time before it catches fire.
GUINNESS BLACK LAGER IN US 'NOT THE SCALE OF SUCCESS WE WOULD HAVE LIKED'
Diageo’s beer innovation head insists the firm needs to strengthen Guinness’s premium credentials and 'reframe' the drink for a new generation of drinkers to reignite growth.
Diageo says it see a massive opportunity for international spirits in the Asia Pacific and claims its scale lends it a significant competitive advantage in the region.
The UK Office of Fair Trading (OFT) says it is considering an offer by Diageo to sell most of its Whyte & Mackay whisky business to address UK retail concerns over its $2bn merger with United Spirits.
Coca-Cola has lost the No.1 spot to Apple in Interbrand’s definitive listing of the world’s most valuable brands for the first time ever, as our gallery rounding up the beverage Top 10 shows.
Irish minister Alex White has attacked Diageo for cynical marketing of its annual ‘Arthur’s Day’ Guinness event and insists it worsens the nation’s problems with over-consumption of alcohol.
There’s no place for Coke in the Forbes 2013 list of The World’s Top 100 Most Innovative Companies, with Starbucks leading the beverage pack above Pernod Ricard and Beam Inc.
BEVERAGEDAILY.COM SPECIAL EDITION: FLEXIBLE BEVERAGE PACKAGING
Packaging expert Andrew Streeter believes flexible beverage packaging has huge beverage potential given added functionality and demands for sustainability and cost reduction.
BEVERAGEDAILY.COM SPECIAL EDITION: FLEXIBLE BEVERAGE PACKAGING
Capri Sun’s runaway success in North America for Kraft Foods is alerting other beverage brands to the potential stand-up pouches offer, while machine line speeds are increasing all the time.
Platforms like Facebook allow brands such as Jim Beam, Coke and Qream to connect with consumers directly and engage them in brand-related banter, often with amusing consequences, as our gallery shows…
Diageo says that collaborations with the likes of SAB Miller, Heineken and Coke are helping the beverage industry lessen its impact in water-stressed regions worldwide.
Diageo has seen off the latest US legal challenge relating to its Parrot Bay RTD cocktails but could still face a possible jury trial in 2013 over claims relating to packaging patent infringement.
Turkey's biggest brewer and SAB Miller partner Anadolu Efes expects new restrictions on marketing and sales of alcohol to limit beer industry growth in the country.
Diageo has declined to comment on the possible business effects of stiffer alcohol laws in Turkey, insisting only that it remains committed to its business in Turkey.
ALCOHOLIC DRINKS GIANT INSISTS IT CAN STILL HIT 2015 GOAL
Johnnie Walker distiller Diageo admits that it fell off-track in 2013 against a 2015 target to cut the polluting power of wastewater by 60% but insists it is still on target to meet the goal.
Diageo CEO Ivan Menezes warns that the firm’s beer innovations in North America over the last year have failed and that it needs to ‘crack the code’ for brands such as Guinness that face increasing competition from super premium and craft beers.
The British Royal Family enjoy a variety of alcoholic drinks as our exclusive infographic shows. But does the Queen like kicking back with a pint of Boddingtons after a hard day's Corgi walking, and is Prince Harry a 'Crack Baby' cocktail...
Major Brands is claiming victory after a legal judgement allowed Diageo to break a distribution agreement in Missouri but raises the possibility of the spirits giant paying significant damages.
The director general (DG) of the Law Society of Ireland has reportedly said that the Irish government should stop foreign dignitaries like Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip from being pictured with a pint of Guinness, branding it the ‘greatest PR coup...
Politcian says constituents still feel 'let down by Diageo'
A Scottish MP has attacked Diageo’s remuneration of outgoing boss Paul Walsh, and says the people she represents in Kilmarnock still feel ‘let down’ by the firm for closing a Johnnie Walker bottling plant in 2012.
Mintel analyst Chris Wisson tells BeverageDaily.com that a 2012 slump in Scotch whisky exports to France is ‘quite surprising’ but insists the category’s global future remains bright.
A clutch of crazy and sometimes simply plain daft flavored vodka varieties took the US by storm from the early noughties, but new Mintel data suggests growth might be stalling.
The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) tells BeverageDaily.com it opposes a successful state bill allowing sales of malt beverages in pouches on recycling grounds, as Diageo eyes frozen alcoholic RTD success in another...
BUT BIG BRANDS HENNESSEY, JOHNNIE WALKER STRONG IN KEY MARKETS
Despite runaway spirits growth in Asia, 20% of global brands do not have a Chinese website, and mobile sites tend to lack investment, but Hennessey and Johnnie Walker are strong in key markets.
Diageo technical director Luca Lupini believes confectionery flavored spirits are an ‘amazing opportunity’ for the firm, and insists the sub-category brings out the best in its R&D team.
