Singapore Shorts: William Grant & Sons’ drive to succeed in APAC GTR

By Benedict Evans | Thursday, 3 July 2025 10:41

– TRBusiness

Gwilym Cooke, Head of Brand Marketing – Global Travel Retail, William Grant & Sons, talks to TRBusiness about Glenfiddich’s partnerships with Aston Martin Formula One, the performance of its malt brands in APAC, and new product launches ahead of TFWA Cannes.

“It’s a partnership that makes a good deal of sense for us, there’s lots of synergies in terms of brands with a storied British heritage, and a real focus on craftsmanship inherent in the histories of both brands,” said Cooke, who hinted at an ‘exciting pipeline of activity’ for the platform: “We think we’re going to be able to do something very exciting from a liquid point of view and that’s something we’re hoping to talk more about in the Summer, and revealing at Cannes.”

Cooke also discussed William Grant & Sons’ (WG&S) performance in APAC, noting: “In Asia Pacific our malt brands are particularly strong, so Glenfiddich and The Balvenie, and we’ve had a really good year. We’re in double-digit growth for the malt brands, and we had a particularly strong Q4 into Q1.

WG&S has recently launched The Balvenie Golden Cask, with 20 activations in airports globally during Q1, which Cooke said had ‘really helped buoy Q1, and we also see fantastic growth for Monkey Shoulder across the region.”

The focus for the remainder of FY 2025 certainly appears to be honing on on experiences across all aspects of the brand, from HPP activations, design, to the liquid itself, as Cooke highlighted a continued shift in the value exchange as consumers look beyond price.

“That’s very centric to everything we’re doing from the products we’re building through to our activations, the design, and what people are going to experience on those HPPs in terms of personalisation.”