The big drinks groups are coming up with novel ways of attracting consumers—and it isn’t just reliant on launching another new line. The same product in different packaging can stimulate demand and that is exactly what is hoped will happen with two revamps: the Havana Club Icónica rum collection from France’s Pernod Ricard, and Highland Park single malt whisky from Edrington, also home to The Macallan.
Icónica is the name of Havana Club’s established top-end range; a luxury Cuban rum crafted through an exceptionally long and careful tropical aging process that has won the brand numerous medals in international taste and design competitions. Those attractive elements are now being communicated more strongly though a packaging and marketing re-brand.
The result is a fully-fledged reimagining, from the logo and labeling to wooden stoppers in place of screw caps and a more unified visual identity, though the liquids inside stay the same. The new Icónica had its grand unveiling in La Villa Mande in Paris at the end of September complete with a classic 1958 Chevy Impala in the driveway to instill a retro Cuban vibe.
Makeover highlights Cuban heritage
Icónica is doubling down on prestige rum. Its extra-aged and rare liquids are now enhanced by more elegant, contemporary designs, from the golden label to the fluted bottle, to reflect the pinnacle of the Havana Club portfolio. There is no doubting the brand’s Cuban heritage spanning more than five decades, but now a new chapter is dawning as luxury cues become a bigger part of the picture.
Asbel Morales: “Each bottle in the Icónica collection encapsulates the mastery of Cuban rum-making, … [+]
One of them is the revival of the brand’s continuous ageing technique first pioneered by the late rum master Don Navarro in 1971 with the creation of Havana Club Añejo 7 Año. At the time, this was a novel style claimed by the brand to have “redefined the standard for all extra-aged and prestige Cuban rums.” The new design—with Havana’s revered and graceful Giraldilla statue at its centre—is meant to communicate this craftsmanship and its guardianship by all the brand’s rum masters to date.
Asbel Morales, Havana Club’s current rum master, with more than three decades in the industry, said of the revamp: “Each bottle in the Icónica collection encapsulates the mastery of Cuban rum-making, a legacy now recognised by UNESCO as a World Intangible Heritage. As maestros, we are committed to preserving and passing down these traditions.”
The three expressions start at about €59 ($62) for the Selección de Maestros, bottled at cask strength (45% ABV) before stepping up to the 15-year-old Gran Reserva Añejo 15 Años (40% ABV) priced at €209 ($220), the only age-statement product in the collection. Top billing goes to Máximo Extra Añejo (40% ABV) with a production run of 1,000 bottles annually and presented in a hand-blown crystal decanter that is glass stoppered. This very rare expression comes in at €2,500 ($2,100) and “has 10 generations of maestros in every drop” notes Morales.
The Icónica 15-year-old Gran Reserva Añejo 15 Años at $220 is the only age-statement product in the … [+]
The revamped Icónica Collection is rolling out globally to retail, bars, restaurants and hotels in the run up to the holidays and should be widely available globally from early next year, but has yet to enter the travel retail channel. Key local markets are Germany, France, Britain, and Italy, but the brand is now putting extra focus on Spain, Switzerland, Poland, Czech Republic, and Benelux.
All change at Highland Park
While Pernod Ricard is buoying rum with Icónica, Edrington is doing something somewhat similar with one of its key single malts—Highland Park, produced in Scotland’s Orkney Islands.
Having used vivid Viking warrior imagery in the past to express its heritage—Orkney was once a powerful seat in the Norse Empire—Highland Park has moved away from this somewhat dark and masculine take to reveal its softer side. And the travel retail channel will be key to exposing it.
Highland Park’s makeover is designed to attract new, younger consumers.
A company spokesperson said: “This is a total repositioning of the brand. That Nordic connection will always be there but going down the Viking route was quite one-dimensional and we really wanted to appeal to a broader audience.”
The new target is the affluent Millennial as much as whisky connoisseurs, with 25- to 35-year-olds as the sweet spot. Jeremy Speirs, who heads up global travel retail channel, told me: “Our existing consumers are getting older and we need to appeal to younger demographics. One way of doing that is talking the language that they respect and respond to: our provenance, made in Orkney, the heather, and the people of Orkney. In retail environments we can really talk to that provenance and bring the brand to life.”
Natural and contemporary
A more contemporary look will roll out across the brand’s 14-, 16-, and 18-year-old travel-retail exclusive whiskies from early 2025 though domestic markets are seeing products with age ranges at 12-, 15-, and 18-years rolling out now. Taking its cues from the contrasts in the rugged Orcadian landscapes and the warming waters of the Gulf Stream for the younger travel retail expressions, to the dramatic skies for the 18-year-old, the new look will redefine the centuries-old distillery, founded 226 years ago.
In travel retail, pricing will be $70, $120, and $180 respectively, believed to be a hike on the existing liquids as the format is reducing from one liter to 700ml. The first locations to get the range will be the brand’s top 25 airports led by San Francisco, Shanghai, London, and Taipei.
The range retains the elements that distinguish Highland Park; peat infused with floral heather rather than woody roots (because trees find it difficult to grow in Orkney’s winds), and long aging thanks to a temperate climate (enabled by the Gulf Stream).
Highland Park’s master whisky maker, Gordon Motion, said: “It’s Orkney’s heathered peat that gives us our subtly smoky flavor and it’s as unique as the place it’s made. With the packaging update, we have a great opportunity to celebrate a new look, while continuing to share the distinctive whisky we’re famed for.” Paul Condron, Highland Park’s global brand director, added that the new design would put the unique flavor of the heathered peat “front and center.”
The packaging design should appeal to both sexes as the color palette in what is quite a radical makeover is fresher and brighter, but quite delicate, a total contrast to the black shades of the Viking past. The outer features strata patterns reflecting the wind-beaten landscape while the non-colored shade of the liquid inside is highlighted using an updated bottle shape.