Campari Group has lined up a “strategic cooperation” arrangement with baijiu giant Sichuan Yibin Wuliangye Group in China.
A “memorandum of understanding” between the Italy-based spirits brand owner and state-owned Wuliangye was signed earlier this week. The deal, specific details of which were not immediately available, has been described by Wuliangye chair Zeng Congqin as “a passionate collision of cultural exchanges between the East and West”.
According to a statement today, “the two groups will collaborate in areas such as new product co-creation, channel expansion, strengthening marketing cooperation and promoting brand culture to support the joint development of both parties in domestic China and international spirits market”.
“This cooperation will be a breakthrough in product innovation of the two top spirits groups in the world,” Congqin added.
The latest development builds on the joint promotion in China earlier this year of the ‘Wugroni’, a version of the Negroni cocktail serve that swapped out the gin for a “special blend” of Wuliangye baijiu.
Earlier this year, business valuation consultancy Brand Finance estimated that Wuliangye’s namesake baijiu is the second most valuable spirits brand globally with an estimated value of US$30.29bn. The brand dwarfed third-placed Xinghuacun Fenjiu, also a baijiu, which has an estimated value of $9.37bn.
Speaking to Global Drinks Intel following the announcement in September of his pending departure, Campari CEO Bob Kunze-Concewitz hinted that a sizable transaction was in the offing. “We’ve built a scalable model and capabilities, he said at the time. “Now, we can really handle, absorb, integrate and then manage something transformational. I’d love to do that, but it takes two to tango. Having said that, I still have six months left, so you never know.”
