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[h=1]Campari Targets ‘Cool’ Brunch Spots to Push Aperol Liqueur[/h][h=2]Campari has been educating bartenders, paying brunch goers in its move to grow U.S. sales of its bring orange liqueur Aperol[/h]
An Aperol Spritz cocktail consists of three parts Prosecco, two parts Aperol and one part seltzer water. PHOTO: BRUCE R. BENNETT/THE PALM BEACH POST/ZUMA PRESS
By SAABIRA CHAUDHURI
July 25, 2016 12:18 p.m. ET0 COMMENTS
LONDON— Davide Campari-Milano SpA’s bright-orange liqueur Aperol is set to overtake the Italian company’s Skyy vodka and Campari liqueur brands by revenue this year, Campari Chief Executive Bob Kunze-Concewitz said in an interview Monday.
The three brands now each account for about 12%, or about €200 million ($219 million), of Campari’s revenue, he said, based on 2015 figures.
The comments from Mr. Kunze-Concewitz, who has been with Campari since 2005 and has been CEO since 2007, come ahead of the company’s half-year earnings report for the period ended June 30, slated for next Tuesday.
Campari added Aperol to its portfolio of brands as part of its 2003 acquisition of Barbero 1891 SpA. While Aperol, which has just 11% alcohol by volume, was popular in Italy at the time, it was little known internationally, making 75% of its sales from just three Italian cities, Mr. Kunze-Concewitz said.
Over the next few years, Campari rolled out what it calls the “Aperol model” in a bid to internationalize the drink. Starting in Austria, Germany and Switzerland before moving on to the rest of Europe, it educated bartenders about how to make an Aperol Spritz—a cocktail of Prosecco, Aperol and sparkling water over ice. The company focused on a handful of bars in a particular neighborhood before moving on to the next neighborhood.
Aperol bottles in a store at Fiumicino airport in Rome, Italy. PHOTO: MAX ROSSI/REUTERS
“Like an oil spill, you extend,” said Mr. Kunze-Concewitz, who said it typically takes about seven years for Aperol to catch on in a country. The drink’s biggest markets are Italy, Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland, Belgium and the U.K. The U.S., while a top-10 market, is still relatively small.
In response, Campari is trying its hand at popularizing Aperol in the U.S. its own way, pressing Italian cafes and European restaurants to carry the liqueur while training them on how to make an Aperol Spritz.
About three years ago, Campari began paying people in San Francisco, Miami and New York to go out on weekends to “cool hip brunch spots” with friends and order Aperol for the table, said Mr. Kunze-Concewitz.
“You’re in the table next door and you see these orange glasses arriving, people drinking it and loving it, you get curious,” he said.
The brand is now growing at 40% to 50% annually in the U.S., although off a small base, he said.
Aperol’s sales have also recovered in Germany after a bad few years there. The brand’s sales slid after Campari a few years ago raised the price of a 75-centiliter bottle to €10.99 from less than €10. The big discounter Lidl stopped selling Aperol, opening the door to 47 copycat brands, Mr. Kunze-Concewitz said.
Price promotions--and a renewed appreciation for Aperol after customers tried the lower-quality copycats--have helped sales to rebound, he said. Aperol stabilized in Germany in 2015, and sales rose in the first quarter.
