MORGAN’S Spiced, one of Scotland’s best selling spirits, is to be renamed this summer to bring it in line with its international brand identity.
Captain Morgan’s Spiced, as the drink will soon be known, will be rolled out by Diageo across the UK from June, positioning it as a sister brand to dark rum Captain Morgan.
While owner Diageo said the liquid will remain “exactly the same”, it will be packaged with a new label featuring the name and image of ‘the captain’.
Captain Morgan is said to take its name from Welsh buccaneer Captain Henry Morgan, a prominent naval figure in the Caribbean in the 17th Century who was latterly the governor of Jamaica.
The captain will feature heavily in subsequent marketing activity, which will include outdoor and TV advertising as well as on-trade activity reaching 250 premises in Scotland.
Violeta Andreeva, senior brand manager for rums at Diageo GB, said the revamp aims to build on the success of a brand claimed to generate UK on-trade sales of £56 million, £33m in Scottish bars.
“Captain Morgan’s is huge globally,” she told SLTN. “And we believe that the success is basically because we’ve got a great liquid but at the same time we’ve got the real excitement and personality of the captain himself.
“We’re absolutely not changing the liquid. It’s exactly the same, but we will be introducing the captain on the bottle, and we will be doing a lot more exciting activity with the captain.”
Morgan’s Spiced brand manager Ali Wilkes said the UK relaunch represents a major change for the brand, which was launched as Captain Morgan’s Original Spiced in the US in 1983 and, shortly after, as Morgan’s Spiced in the UK.
“We’re delighted to be bringing such an exciting injection into the GB market with the introduction of the captain, giving the brand a memorable identity,” Ali said. “Championing unpretentious party fun, the captain is set to drive real consumer engagement across the UK, highlighting the perfect serve of ‘captain and cola’.”
(Image right: Morgan’s Spiced will be rebranded Captain Morgan’s Spiced.)
