Bourbon boss tests waters in NZ

By SIMON HENDERY

Tom Flocco does not project the down-home Kentucky image that springs to mind at the thought of one of the world's best-known bourbon brands.

The Chicago-based president and chief executive of Jim Beam Brands wears a dark suit, has an MBA from Harvard and used to be a partner at McKinsey & Co.

But never fear, Flocco is quick to offer a laid-back anecdote with a New Zealand twist.

Ten years ago, while holidaying in Queenstown between leaving Harvard and starting at McKinsey, he got a call from the great management consultancy asking if he would rush home to start work a month earlier than planned.

He was having too much fun at the time and respectfully declined.

"I wasn't going to tear myself away," Flocco explains. "You work the rest of your life."

This week's two-day visit to New Zealand is much more fleeting and is to check out a market he says is one of Jim Beam's best.

"The brand is very well developed here, it resonates very well with consumers. What we like to do is come down to markets such as this to understand why it is going so well."

We may enjoy our bourbon, but in liquor marketing, innovation never stops.

Beam, as Flocco affectionately (or is that reverently) refers to the brand, is about to introduce New Zealanders to a couple of new variants - a Jim Beam and vanilla cola ready-to-drink mix and the top-of-the-line Jim Beam Small Batch full-strength spirit, which will sell for about $50 a bottle.

The vanilla product has been especially developed for the Australasian market to go along with the tastes here, Flocco says.

Jim Beam is a 209-year-old brand and Flocco says the secret to its longevity is its authenticity.

"It's a real product for real people."

Sales pitch out of the way, Flocco relaxes and lets slip one of his company's secret marketing strategies.

"I guess we'll have to figure out how to get Jim Beam into the next Lord of the Rings. A little cameo shot if we could get that somewhere there that would be great."