Burns Night takes place on 25 January and is a celebration of the life of Scottish poet Robert Burns.
In the UK, Diageo is running a Talisker campaign that is to result in 500 Burn’s Night celebrations up and down the country. Talisker sales in the UK have increased from 19.7k 9L cases in 2007 to 25k in 2009.
Steve Wood, global marketing director for Talisker, said: “These past few years have seen us increase our marketing efforts for the brand in line with the growing global consumer demand, particularly across Europe and Asia-Pacific. We know that when people are buying Talisker they feel they are buying into a little bit of our 175 year Scottish heritage so it is natural that as we see Scotch whisky migrate cultural events like this journey with it. Our aspiration is that as Talisker continues to migrate it becomes the Whisky brand associated with Burns Night.”
Diageo said that emerging markets were contributing to the popularity of Scotch. They cited Brazil, Venezuela, South Korea and Singapore, which all appear in the top ten export markets by volume.
Last year was the 250th anniversary of the birth of Burns. According to Diageo, a world record was reached for the highest number of coordinated Burns Night events, with over 3,600 Burns Night suppers recorded across 80 countries.
