Global Drinks Intel: How have you got to where you are today with Proximo?
Shane Hoyne, EMEA, Asia Pacific & GTR MD at Proximo Spirits: My whole career’s been in the alcohol industry, starting with Heineken in Ireland and then to the head office in Amsterdam before five years in the US. I moved to William Grant & Sons when they acquired Tullamore Dew (from C&C Group in 2010) and got that whole entity up. I followed that with two years as Europe CMO with Bacardi, where global travel retail was in my remit. After that, I went to Quintessential Brands, again as CMO. For the last three years, I helped set up and establish Mijenta tequila around the world with Mike Dolan.
I joined Proximo in June and I’m really pleased to be here. It’s a phenomenal company with an incredible portfolio of brands that lean into where the industry is going, especially in tequila.
GDI: Which brands are leading the way for Proximo in your markets?
SH: We have three principle categories; tequila, Irish whiskey and spiced rum, which is The Kraken. All of them have been in growth.
The Kraken (below) is focused on the UK and Australia and has become a very big player in spiced rum in those markets. Our real growth engine over the last four or five years has been tequila – the global appetite has grown as has consumer knowledge and demand. Proximo’s at the front end of that, with a portfolio like nobody else’s, from an entry tequila through to ultra-premium. All of our tequila brands have experienced significant international growth.
Jose Cuervo Especial and 1800 have globalised footprints, then there are geographical pockets of good performances. We’re fortunate that our portfolio is so well structured, no matter where the consumer is on their tequila journey.
Irish whiskey continues to grow. Our work to evolve Bushmills into single malt has pulled the brand away from the category’s traditional structure, which was dominated by blends – although we also have a blended offering with Bushmills Original and Black Bush. We’ve just launched the oldest ever Irish single malt in Bushmills 46-year-old, while we’re also innovating with a limited-edition 26-year-old crystal malt, made using a unique malting process for Irish whiskey.
In a way, we’re very deep in tequila and expansive in Irish whiskey. We don’t have a wide portfolio in my region, but we’re quite focused.
GDI: Does that work for you?
SH: It’s worked so far!
GDI: Do you look at other spirts categories with a sense of FOMO?
SH: It’s in the DNA of everybody who works in the spirits industry to constantly look at other categories – Everyone’s always looking at something. We’re pretty happy with where we are.
Looking to the future, we’re really well-positioned with our range of mezcals (400 Conejos and Creyente), which we’re starting to give more consideration to in my region. Mezcal’s small but continues to grow off the back of greater understanding of the category. We also have a range of American single malt whiskies (which includes Stranahan’s), which we’re now starting to explore the opportunity for internationally.
In the realms of what we do currently, the focus on tequila and Irish whiskey keeps us pretty occupied.
GDI: Do you feel any internal pressure to kick on in tequila internationally?
SH: The significant scale that tequila has grown to in the US isn’t linked in any way to what’s happening internationally.
We all know that what happens in the US influences a lot of trends in many international markets, but the category is so young outside the US and Mexico. There are two completely separate dynamics. In some markets, the energy’s at Jose Cuervo Especial level, but in some markets, the energy’s at 1800 and above. I would struggle to connect the two dynamics.
From a company perspective, we see a lot of headroom in the US for tequila that we’re well-position to play in. There’s also significant headroom internationally, and we’re in as good a place as we could be to tap into that. It’s about being choiceful about which brand we want to focus on in which market, based on where the category’s at and where it’s going. We spend a lot of time thinking about that.
We’ve been very successful so far with a good roadmap ahead. I can’t claim any of the credit yet!
GDI: It sounds like you’ve got an easy gig!
SH: The word ‘easy’ has never entered my mind in this industry. If you think something is easy, then you’re missing something!
I was really excited to join Proximo. In my time with Tullamore Dew, I could really appreciate where the Irish whisky category could go. Evenso, I’d never use the word ‘easy’.
GDI: Specifically in global travel retail, where does the Jose Cuervo brand sit, when Proximo has plenty of premium-plus brands you can play with?
SH: The key for us is to provide a solution for passengers who are going through an airport. They’ve got different need states and we need to make sure we’re lining our propositions up against each one.
Jose Cuervo Especial (below) is there for someone who wants a tequila to have fun with their friends. We need to make sure we’ve got an activation and the education in place. Further up the triangle, it’s much more around education. Cristalino, for example, accounts for 25% of tequila sales in Mexico, but it’s relatively unknown internationally. We’re starting to grow our cristalino footprint, but we need to provide passengers with education.
GDI: Which need states have you identified that need working on?
SH: The piece of work we need to do is around the differences in the key styles of tequila. It’s, why are the styles different? How do you drink them? What’s the occasion?
For a relatively simple tequila-based drink, such as the paloma or margarita, we offer specific packs that give the educational notes. For more traditional tequila serves, we’ve got that well covered in how we educate and inform consumers.
Further up the price ladder, if you’re a connoisseur, you know that when you go to certain travel retail stores, you can find the best spirits available. A part of everything we do is to have the best tequilas in the world available. That’s always been important for us, as a company with our heritage, our mission in tequila and our global presence. We’re really proud that we can do that.
GDI: For Proximo, is the GTR channel proving resistant to the wider economic climate that’s affecting domestic performances for beverage alcohol?
SH: We’re well placed in the current economic environment, because we’ve got a range that goes from core propositions at accessible price points all the way up to luxury offerings – in travel retail, we continue to see growth at both ends.
With Bushmills (below), for example, we’ve got Bushmills Original, which does a really good job at an accessible price. Equally, we’ve got higher age statements that sit in the luxury areas in GTR. If you’ve got really good brands with really good liquid, it gives you the permission to cover both ends of the spectrum.
GDI: More broadly, what’s the hardest part of your job?
SH: I wouldn’t say it’s hard, but when you’re in an industry where there’s so much opportunity for growth, it’s important to be constantly choiceful about where you focus and what criteria you put in place.
I joined in June, so I’m still getting to understand it all. The team that (CEO) Juan Domingo Beckmann’s built are all masters of their own briefs – they know exactly what they’re doing. That gives me time to think about what we can do for the future.
GDI: What’s the first data set that you look at in the morning?
SH: That’s quite a multi-faceted question! The scale of category growth is important. Tequila needs to be growing strongly on value; this is a category that will be driven by premiumisation. We need to make sure that we as a company are at the forefront of that growth, building scale and building value. We have a lot of conversations about how that happens. Irish whiskey is pretty much the same. Our strategy is to premiumise through our single malts, so value growth is really important.
If you ask anybody in any company, they’ll probably give you the same answer – build scale, build value.
GDI: With Bushmills’ single malt proposition, your competitive set must be larger than just the Irish whiskey category.
SH: Yes. By default, our ambition in Irish whiskey takes Bushmills into a broader competitive set.
Because tequila’s at such a young development stage, the source of business is not that of a tequila brand. The category’s attracting people that would have traditionally drunk vodka or gin, for example. We have a multi-vertical view of the world – that’s the nature of the category as well. We look at the industry at a very broad level to understand how we grow in the future.
GDI: Proximo is publicly-listed but majority owned by the Beckmann family. Who do you feel you work for?
SH: Juan Domingo Beckmann is my boss – and he’s the CEO!
