Film star Shilpa Shetty was the cynosure of all eyes as the glamourous style diva launched Romanov Red, India's first multi-grain, multi-distilled vodka from the United Spirits Limited (USL) stable. A premium variant of Romanov, Romanov Red has been launched to cater to the growing consumer need for a vodka that not only matches international standards in smoothness and taste but also delivers superior imagery. For the first time in India, a vodka has been introduced in a shrink sleeve packaging (the bottle is made of red sleeve that is conspicuous and attractive) to heighten its visibility.
Debashish Shyam, Assistant Vice President (Marketing), United Spirits Limited, said, “Romanov Red will be a trailblazer in the prestige vodka segment as the consumers will experience the unique blend of multiple grains in a vodka for the first time. Romanov Red keeps up the tradition of firsts from the Romanov brand including the world’s first diet variant. With unprecedented growth in the prestige vodka category, Romanov Red will catapult the total vodka share of market for us by 15-20 per cent.”
Prestige vodka segment is the fastest growing segment in India with the growth of over 80% with the annual volume of about 0.75 million cases. The company plans to increase its marketing spends by 25% to leverage this emerging segment and ramp up its vodka portfolio. USL dominates the vodka market mainly in the regular segment (Rs 180 to Rs 200), with more than 75 per cent share through its brands like White Mischief and Romanov.
Romanov, the parent vodka brand for Romanov Red, is one of the largest selling vodkas in the country, commanding nearly 33 % of the market share and over 1 million cases per annum. The brand is known for its superior quality that is in line with international standards and is at the forefront of innovations to consistently cater to consumer needs.
Romanov Red derives it niche from the choicest multiple grains grown in India. Cultivation of grains in India is done in two major harvest seasons. "Kharif or Autumn harvest" (for rice, maize, bajra, jowar etc) and "Rabi or Spring harvest" for (wheat, barley etc.). The finest grains from different harvest seasons are carefully selected and ground with utmost care to get grist which retains all the natural characters. This grist is then meticulously fermented to produce the spirit which captivates the richness of these grains. This spirit is distilled using multi-distillation process to retain only the natural nuances of these grains. This high quality spirit is then further refined through multi-filtration techniques to arrive at a never before blend captured by Romanov Red.
Romanov Red is priced at an average of Rs. 300.for a 750 ML bottle. The brand is currently available in all markets in India in the North and the West and will hit the shelves nationally by the end of September 2008.
About Romanov Vodka:
Romanov gets its name after the last Russian Dynasty "Romanov" which connotes strong association with the vodka heartland. Romanov achieved the Millionaire status (sold a million cases) in the year 2007-08.
Shilpa Shetty was announced the brand ambassador of Romanov in May, 2006 and has been with brand for over two years now. Her innate style, cool, passionate & never say die attitude highlight the core attributes of the brand and help deliver an enhanced brand experience to the consumer.
About United Spirits Limited:
United Spirits Limited (USL) is the USD 1 billion spirits arm of the UB Group. USL was earlier McDowell and Company Limited and before that McDowell Spirits Limited. USL is headquartered in Bangalore with a global footprint and has 7500 employees across various locations. USL has a portfolio of the more than 140 brands, of which 17 are millionaire brands (those that sell more than a million cases per annum) and has manufacturing and bottling units in 67 locations across the country.
USL represents the merged entities of erstwhile McDowell & Co. Limited, Phipson Distillery Limited, United Spirits Limited, Herbertsons Limited, Triumph Distillers and Vinter Private Limited, Baramati Grape Industries Limited, United Distillers India Limited, McDowell International Brandies Limited and Shaw Wallace Distilleries Limited. The erstwhile McDowell & Co. Limited was first established as proprietary business in 1826.
