Mixability: Mixing the Mexican
"The problem with tequila is, if you go out on the street and ask 100 people what they think of tequila, 99 will say 'no way, I remember that from downing shots on my 18th birthday," says Patrick O'Reilly, marketing manager for Cellar Trends tequila brand Patrón.
So how then, if the category is dogged by this 'problem', is tequila such a success story? According to Nielsen, it is bucking the trend of a declining drinks market by being in four per cent annual growth in value terms. The answer lies in its mixability.
Tequila brands have started to focus on presenting the Mexican spirit as a base for long drinks. The Nielsen figures suggest their drive to persuade drinkers that this is a versatile spirit worth putting with just about any conventional soft drink is working.
Patrón hosted an event in October to kick off a campaign to raise awareness of its flagship Patrón Silver, which the company says is distilled to be more subtle and mixable than other tequilas.
It is a bid to pull drinkers away from that more established mixable spirit, vodka. "We're looking to turn other white spirits drinkers into tequila drinkers," says Patrick. He believes the trick with promoting tequila is getting rid of the baggage the category has carried from when it first emerged in the UK purely as a hard-hitting shot.
Patrick says: "The problem is perception. If you introduce it not as tequila but say 'here, this is a new spirit - you can mix it with grapefruit juice and soda', you've got them. You can make all your vodka or rum cocktails with tequila, especially if it's Patrón Silver."
Jose Cuervo, by far the biggest tequila brand with 53 per cent volume share value of the UK market, has also moved into the next stage of an experiential marketing campaign all about promoting tequila and mixers. According to Jose Cuervo senior brand manager Helen Facey, the Diageo brand has held more than 10,000 in-pub tastings of Jose Cuervo with mixers since the 'Cuervo Ambassador' programme was created six years ago.
This year the focus has moved to margarita cocktails because, as Helen says, "that's where we think the big opportunity lies".
Jose Cuervo is in discussions with "a number of managed pub groups" to put together meal-and-drinks deals with margaritas made using its frozen margarita machines. Launched two years ago, these units deliver iced Margaritas and can pour a pitcher in 10 seconds. There are currently 250 of the machines in a mixture of freehouses and managed groups' pubs, including some of Mitchells & Butlers'.
"When we have done mixability tastings, we find people are pleasantly surprised because they reassess the image they have of tequila," says Helen. "That is the beauty of mixability."
