The Family Spirit
DeKuyper Re-Launch Addresses Consumer Perceptions of Cordials

Cordials can be confusing territory. Many a bartender who isn’t the most worldly mixologist or isn’t reading from a recipe, might find experimentation creating cocktails with cordials somewhat daunting — much like the consumer in the off-premise aisle wondering exactly what flavors of cordials to pick up. “DeKuyper realized that cordials in general is a very confusing and intimidating place for consumers, especially in the  off-premise,” says Sheryl Rosenberger, DeKuyper senior brand manager. “It’s fragmented and chaotic. We did some research and learned that consumers spend an average of 60 seconds browsing the cordials aisle, but only 45 percent of them actually make a purchase.” As it turns out, consumers mentally selfsegment the selections based on usage, rather than on flavor or recipe. “Consumers told us there are four different uses,” Rosenberger says. “Those four uses for cordials are as a mixer, a sipper, a shot or as an after-dinner drink. We decided to segment all 60 flavors in our portfolio which have been essentially unrelated, with the exception of the Pucker family into usagebased families.”

Family Distinction
As the category leader, DeKuyper now re-introduces its portfolio in five families: Burst, Pucker, Luscious, DeKuyper Signature and Brandy. DeKuyper began a re-launch of packaging for all its flavors on February 1. “Each family has its own look and feel that mirrors the occasion, target market and usage,” Rosenberger says. “For example, for the Burst family, we feature a lot of dark colors with explosive imagery. For the Luscious family, it’s photographs of all-natural fruit with water dripping off of it, like you could lick the label. “In some but not all cases, we are changing the flavor names so they are more consistent within the families.”

Making the Connection
DeKuyper researched the effect of its new communication of usage on off-premise shelves to tell whether the changes were helping its flavors move forward. “We tested them on cordial consumers, including our own consumers and competitors’ consumers,” Rosenberger explains. “Our new labels scored 22 percent above the norm for all spirits packaging. That includes vodka, tequila, rum you name it and there’s some really exciting, hot packaging there. Against our main competitor, our new packaging outperformed theirs by 24 percent.”