Former England international footballer Michael Owen will be a key element in the Asian expansion plans of the Spey Scottish whisky brand made by Harvey’s of Edinburgh.

 

At a launch event last night at the Tower of London – currently emblazoned with a moat filled with striking ceramic poppies to remember the war dead (see end of story) – Owen unveiled two distinctive single malt expressions: The Golden Choice and The Michael Owen Limited Edition (below) which will be sold globally from this month. The latter is priced about 15% higher than the typical Spey portfolio.

 

The whisky house is also looking to develop the duty free and travel retail channel in which Spey is currently only distributed in Taiwan where the brand is the third biggest selling Scotch in the local market.

 

Speaking to TRBusiness, John Harvey McDonough (left in the picture below), CEO of Harvey’s of Edinburgh says: “We are with the key operators such as Everrich and Tasa Meng and are at all the main airports such as Taipei (Sungshang and Tayaoun), Kaoshiung and Kinmen.

 

“Michael Owen is a very powerful brand (in Asia) and we hope that he will make the difference for us in China. We have been looking at this market for a while and thinking about our entry strategy.”

 

SHANGHAI DATE MARKS ASIAN DEBUT

Owen’s next big event for Spey will be in Shanghai very shortly where the Limited Edition will be launched into the Asia market. Michael Owen as a sub-brand for Spey is likely to see further lines added to the portfolio TRBusiness understands.

 

On travel retail, McDonough says: “It is a very strategic channel for us. We have the business in Taiwan but we are certainly not global so we are expanding distribution – but it takes time. We appointed Brand Harbour [formed by travel retail veterans Jonathan Welch, Nick Woodward and Malcolm Davies] as our duty free representative nearly two months ago for the western hemisphere.”

 

Spey has yet to enter DF&TR in its home UK market but McDonough says that his company is in negotiations with World of Whisky, World Duty Free’s successful retail concept for the category. “We have had good initial responses, so hopefully, with a bit of time, that will work for us,” he adds.

 

WDF’s initial interest has been focused on Spey Royal Choice produced in conjunction with Historic Royal Palaces [and launched in May], which has been offered to a limited number of duty free operators. The new Owen line could be of added interest to international DF&TR operators with strong Chinese and Taiwanese traffic.

 

Michael Owen, who signed up as Spey Whisky’s Global Ambassador earlier this year, has been involved in the global marketing plans. He says: “Spey wants to expand into China and, thankfully, with the clubs I played for, I can be quite popular in China and hopefully speed up the process with extra brand exposure.”

 

ABOUT THE WHISKIES

Both whiskies have been distilled using traditional, handcrafted methods at Harvey’s, Speyside Distillery near Aviemore in the Cairngorm National Park.

 

The Golden Choice expression takes its inspiration from Owen’s passion for horse racing [he is the co-owner of Manor House Stables] and the heritage of The Gold Cup event at Royal Ascot. The bottle has been specially designed and finely crafted in honour of this event. McDonough, comments: “The Golden Choice is a perfect fit with Spey’s royal heritage and we are now planning exclusive VIP experiences around this release.”

 

The Michael Owen Limited Edition expression is a special release of only 19,790 numbered bottles celebrating the year of his birth in 1979. A ‘1412’ detailing on the bottle refers to Owen’s actual birthday on 14 December.