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The rise of rum Part 3: Shedding the "pirates and parties" image

Published:  19 August, 2016

While rum is making gains in the bar and club scene providing appealing highs for party-loving millennials, its image as a hip party drink needs to be balanced with its credibility as a quality spirit if it wants to surpass expectations.

While rum is making gains in the bar and club scene providing appealing highs for party-loving millennials, its image as a hip party drink needs to be balanced with its credibility as a quality spirit if it wants to surpass expectations.

Jamie Fleming, head of copy at Purple Creative which recently rebranded and repackaged underdog brand, Wood's Navy Rum, feels the category is already achieving this.

He said: "Rum has been an untapped goldmine for years and only now is it finally beginning to outgrow its parties and pirates reputation. It's a credible, cultural and iconic liquid with amazing historical back-stories.

"Non-mass market brands like Ron Abuelo, a golden rum from Panama, are quickly winning fans with their rich and rooted provenance story - backed up by the highest quality sipping rums."

A lot of rums are going through an image overhaul at the moment, including William Grant and Son's Wood's Old Navy Rum, which recently ditched its "out-dated" packaging.

With Wood's, the sailor icon and maritime theme was maintained, but the packaging given a more premium feel which is consistent with the premiumisation trend in this category.

"The rebelliousness of rum is being reflected in the eye-catching packaging of the new wave of rums coming through," explained Shaun Bowen, creative partner at B&B studio which created the identity and branding for new rum brand The Duppy Share.

"Old rum used to be all about clichés of the sea - pirates, boats, sea monsters - but new rums are telling stories and using charm and personality to express themselves."

But while rum appears to be gaining popularity and sorting out its packaging problems, its versatility as a drink has inevitably led to its fragmentation as a category.

It can be drunk with cola, fruit juice, cordials, neat, in cocktails and even in beer and coffee; and its easy-going flavour profile means it appeals both male female drinkers.

Because of this versatility, its image is perhaps more ambiguous than spirits like gin, and so rum has suffered something of an identity crisis with white, dark, golden, spiced, aged and non-aged rums all jostling for market share.

Perhaps it will take one of these styles to emerge as a breakout success before rum reaches a truly new benchmark.

But equally, its diversity is a big part of its success and its ability to cross age and gender boundaries shouldn't be dismissed.

As Neil Morris, global ambassador for The West Indies Rum and Spirits Producers' Association (WIRSPA), puts it: "Rum has never really been out of vogue. The secret is its utter diversity as a category. It's never become the drink your Dad drinks."

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