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UB to capture spirit of the times

Boby Kurian

BANGALORE, Sept. 6

CAN your favourite whisky be blended the way you want it? This desire may soon turn into reality as McDowell & Co embarks on an ambitious marketing initiative.

The UB group's flagship company is working on an interactive project where it will service consumers with customised brand offerings on the Internet. The liquor major plans to leverage on the emerging `mass customisation' trend, which the Net has thrown up to the glee of international brands such as Levi's and many wine businesses in the West.

A customer who logs on to the site would be able to ask for specific requirements with regard to both the blend and the packaging of his favourite liquor brand and place the order accordingly. The company will oblige his specific needs and deliver the me rchandise at his doorstep.

"The liquor consumer always feels that only he knows the best about the brand he consumes. He considers the brand as his own and feels for it. We plan to reinforce an already strong relationship by offering customised brand service on the Net," a top McD owell official told Business Line.

It means the company will take into account even consumer suggestions pertaining to the malt percentage in a particular brand or will deliver the spirit in a special bottle as desired by the consumer.

To begin with, McDowell & Co, through its Web site (www.mcdowellindia.com), is likely to offer this service to a limited base of roughly 3,000 consumers (selected from its database of online contests and promotions). It plans to extend the customised ser vice to about 10,000 customers on the Net within the next 4-5 years.

The company will build small special tanks in selected distilleries for this new service. The offline service of these Net customers will be managed from UB Terminus -- an exclusive mega store of all UB group products, located in the big metros.

"The project will not start overnight. Our aim is to push one lakh cases of liquor to roughly 10,000 customers on the Net at the end of five years. It will form an interesting supplement to our core marketing efforts," the company official said.

McDowell has not yet decided on the list of brands to be made available for customised service on the Net. But it is learnt that the project may take off with offerings of Blue Riband gin, which already has pre-mixed brand extensions in the market. The c ompany is yet to fix the price bands at which it will make the offerings.