Pernod Ricard’s Param Uberoi has dethroned the King of Good Times with pricing strategy and a high-stakes marketing campaign
All is fair in love and war and when it comes to the liquor industry, it is war.”
Rivals have considerable praise for Pernod’s stellar performance under Uberoi. “I have a lot of respect for what Pernod Ricard has done in India. They have consistently put top dollar behind their brands and have fought the competition not on price, but through innovative marketing strategies,” says industry veteran Deepak Roy, vice-chairman and CEO of ABD Distillers.
In 1998, soon after Seagram rebuffed Mallya’s overtures, Uberoi was asked to take over the spirits business as CEO. The business was losing Rs. 40 crore a year and had volumes of less than half a million cases a year. Uberoi was among the first non-sales chief executive of a liquor company in India. While this meant he was more focussed on earning profits than driving volumes, his FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) background ensured that he chose a very different route to rebuild the business. During those early days, Uberoi’s decisions were first ridiculed by the industry, but as they bore fruit later, elicited respect and cemented his legacy.
“Consumers wanted it and we didn’t want to lose consumers. Many a times, Pernod Ricard brands were kept under the shelf,” says a distributor in Mumbai who also owns retail outlets. So, even if all but one distributor dropped PRI brands on Mallya’s behest in 2005 in Mumbai, the popularity of Royal Stag and Blender’s Pride meant that Uberoi’s sales numbers were not affected.
(This story appears in the 21 October, 2011 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)