Pernod Ricard launches Malibu hot website

The French drinks giant has launched a website as part of its Malibu Hot campaign in a bid to promote Malibu and Cranberry as this summer's perfect refreshing drink.

Malibu is one of 15 premium brands the group will be pushing this year as part of its premunisation strategy.

Pernod sales for the year to June 30 2007 grew 6.2% to 6.4billion (4.2bn), thanks to strong organic growth across its premium brands.

The group hopes the new interactive branded micro-site - www.malibuhot.com - will entice consumers to the brand following the launch of new packaging in May.

The website is the latest in the group's 6m marketing investment in the brand.

Malibu will be showcased at a series of festivals including Live at Loch Lomond, in Balloch Castle Park, Scotland on August 4, Cardiff Calling at Coopers Field, Cardiff, Wales on August 25 and Rip Curl Boardmasters, Watergate Bay, Newquay on August 10.

"Malibu enjoys 96% consumer awareness and is on par with other super brands such as Virgin and Nokia.

"Overall, the summer of 2007 is by far the biggest yet for Malibu," said Jo Spencer, head of Light Spirits, Pernod Ricard UK.

Malibu's re-designed packaging has been rolled out to UK outlets.

The primary features of the new packaging include a new 'Spirit of The Caribbean' embossed stamp to reinforce the brand's heritage and authenticity, and the Barbados-based 'Twelve Islands Shipping Company' logo on the top half of the bottle.

The content on the back of the bottle has been modified to feature Caribbean cocktail recipes as well as a 'Malibu story' celebrating the brand's origin.

The outer-shipper case packaging displays the same components as the bottles with a white overall look, passport stamp designating a Caribbean origin and colour-coded lettering.

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