Two Canadian distillers are testing the broadcast waters with their first-ever television advertising for hard liquor.
Both United Distillers Canada and Joseph E. Seagram & Sons are treading softly, opting for 10-second closed-captioning sponsorships to promote their premium rye whisky brands.
United Distillers, which has done some cinema advertising for Silent Sam vodka, is featuring Gibson’s Finest, while Seagram is concentrating on Crown Royal.
Distillers have had the right to advertise spirits on television since June 1995. That was when the Federal court ruled that a crtc regulation prohibiting broadcast advertising of spirit-based beverages containing more than 7% alcohol by volume was invalid since it allowed advertising of other alcoholic beverages such as beer – some with a higher concentration of alcohol.
Asked why they’ve waited so long, Dawn Sutherland, brand director for Crown Royal at Seagram, says it’s the high cost of production – and the fear that consumers will attribute the high price of alcohol more to glossy production values than government taxes.
‘From a consumer perspective – is this expensive price for this bottle of spirits going into your expensive television ad campaign? I don’t think all consumers are aware of what the taxation is on spirits.’
Domestic spirits products manufactured in Canada are taxed at 83% while domestic beer is taxed at 55% and domestic wine at 65%.
Sutherland says an ongoing outdoor campaign for Crown Royal has been very successful but Seagram did want to test television.
The company’s closed captioning sponsorship on ctv runs right up to Christmas, says Sutherland, adding there are no plans at the moment to produce a standard 30- or 60-second commercial.
Broadcast advertising by distillers has been limited in the past to responsible-use radio campaigns from the Association of Canadian Distillers.
Seagram’s agency is Les Communications L’Académie Ogilvy of Montreal, while United Distillers agencies include Leo Burnett and The Communiqué Group, both of Toronto.
