Marketing
Royal Stag is placed in the deluxe segment of the Indian whisky market and is priced to target the upper middle class aged 25–40 years.[20] The brand's main national competitor, at its price point, is United Spirits Ltd's McDowell's No.1 whisky.[21] Royal Stag also faces competition from Radico Khaitan's 8 PM Royale,[22] Mason & Summers' "Royal Crown",[23] United Spirits Ltd's Royal Mist whiskies[24] and Allied Blenders & Distilleries (ABD)'s Officer's Choice Black.[25] Pernod Ricard has identified Royal Stag along with Imperial Blue, Blenders Pride, Chivas Regal and 100 Pipers as the company's five core brands to build its spirits business in India. 5 brands have been divided in 2 categories, Chivas Regal and 100 Pipers come under "lifestyle business " category while the other brands, including Royal Stag, are designated as India-made foreign liquor (IMFL).[11] It is marketed in 1 L, 750 ml, 375 ml and 180 ml bottles and also available in 90 ml and 60 ml bottles.[26] The Price for Royal Stag in India vary.
Advertising alcoholic beverages is banned in India as per the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Amendment Bill, which came into effect on 8 September 2000.[27][28] To circumvent the ban liquor manufacturers use surrogate advertising or develop associate properties.[29] Royal Stag uses three themes – Mega Movie, Mega Music and Mega Cricket – to promote the brand.[30] According to Seagram India's vice-president of marketing Bikram Basu, "We've developed Royal Stag Mega Cricket and Royal Stag Mega Movies to promote the brand". Mega Cricket sells cricket gear, and sponsors cricket events, and Basu claims that Mega Movies sponsors "around 8–10 national releases of Hollywood movies every year." The brand often uses cricketers and Bollywood stars in its advertising. The brand's slogan is: "It's your life, make it large".
In 2006, a Royal Stag advert featuring Harbhajan Singh without his turban, with his hair tumbling down over his shoulders, outraged orthodox Sikhs, who burnt effigies in the city of Amritsar.[31] Sikh clergy and its representative body, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) demanded an apology from Singh and demanded that Pernod Ricard India withdraw the ad, which the SGPC termed, an "offensive representation which has hurt the feelings of Sikhs." Singh later apologised saying, "I apologise. In case I have hurt the feelings of my people, it was really not my intention."[32]
A Royal Stag ad in 2011 featuring Harbhajan Singh, showed him opting to not work in his father's ball bearing factory and focus on cricket instead. The commercial ends with him asking the viewer, if with his achievements, "Have I made it large?" Royal Stag's rival, United Spirits Ltd's McDowell's No. 1 Platinum whisky mocked the ad in its commercial featuring Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The ad showed Harbhajan look-alike making ball bearings the size of gym balls at his father's factory, asking if he had "made it large", only to get slapped by his father for being incompetent.[33] Dhoni then tells the viewer, "Zindagi main kuch karna hai to large chodo, kuch alag karo yaar" (If you want to do something in life, then forget large, do something different ). The ad is considered to be a rare example of a spoof in surrogate advertising. The Economic Times quoted an industry official as saying, "It is in bad taste, this type of advertising has never been used in the Indian liquor industry."[34] Harbhajan served a legal notice to United Spirits Ltd on 18 July 2011 claiming that the commercial mocked him, his family and the Sikh community. The notice was sent to Vijay Mallya, UB Executive vice-chairman SR Gupte, President & CFO Ravi Nedungadi, Deputy President Harish Bhat and Executive VP (Corporate Affairs) Nandini Verma. It was sent by Avtar Kaur, Harbhajan's mother, through his lawyers, Dewani Advocates & Consultants. Kaur stated these kinds of advertisements brought "disunity and friction" in the Indian cricket team and could be termed "anti-national". The notice also demanded that the company publicly apologise to the family "through widely-read newspapers as well as television channels prominently",
Brand ambassadors
In 2002, Seagram signed eight cricketers to endorse Royal Stag, including Harbhajan Singh (India), Marvan Atapattu (Sri Lanka), Wasim Akram (Pakistan), Glenn McGrath (Australia), Jonty Rhodes (South Africa), Mervyn Dillon (West Indies), Stephen Fleming (New Zealand), and Andy Flower (Zimbabwe). The campaign was handled by Ogilvy & Mather. Seagram spent inr 25000000 on this promotion.[38] Following this contract, in 2004, Pakistan Civil Court ruled that Wasim Akram had hurt sentiments of Muslims and was fined 25,000 Pakistani rupees (£238) and ordered to apologize the nation. While Akram's lawyer maintained stand that Akram had never appeared in any advertisement of alcoholic product.[39]
Other cricketers that have featured as brand ambassadors or have appeared in Royal Stag advertising include Gautam Gambhir, Jonty Rhodes, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ricky Ponting and Yuvraj Singh.[39]
