Jim Beam, a popular brand of bourbon, has been on sale since 1795. But recently, the brand has decided to branch out to a wider audience to gain more consumer support for the brand. The new version is called Red Stag and was released in 2009 by adding a touch of black cherry flavoring.
Jim Beam is not the only brown spirit company to come up with flavored liquors- many other companies are doing the same after the long-term success of flavored vodkas. Vodka companies have been doing this for years- flavored vodkas making up 20% of all vodka sales. So far, these flavored brown liquors have helped grow the bourbon and whiskey category by 6.5% last year.
Overall, flavors of liquors bring a whole new audience for marketers to reach. But marketing companies are not taking this task lightly- they are proceeding with caution with the challenge of marketing to males and females. These brands want to keep their image as "hard" liquors- mainly dranken by males, while females can also enjoy the flavored choices because they are fruitier and more tasteful. And at the same time, if you market the product as female oriented, many males will be turned off to the product and will begin to think it is not something they want to drink. Overall, marketers will have to think outside the box to advertise these new flavored brown spirits to both genders.
I saw a few of these Red Stag commercials, and I thought that they appealed to both genders equally without compromising the "hard" liquor image. Perhaps you could elaborate on what you find in the ads that appeal to males and/or females and what those do to the Red Stag image.
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