ickel, a whiskey brand from Diageo does not have a sophisticated advertising campaign to announce its presence. The billboards near the distillery, surprisingly is the closest association of this brand with conventional advertising. The success formula fundamentally has been its distillery tours. Com-plete with all the branding, a van containing Dickel bottles charts through terrain, which has the strongest potential in terms of a consumer base. A country singer, sponsored by the brand entertains samplers and consumers. The idea is to form an association which targets customers through music resonating the brand image. The traditional theory is not just restricted to the advertising strategies as far as most whiskey makers in the US are concerned. Be it Kentucky based Woodford, Maker�s Mark or Jim Beam, a close look into the operations and positioning platforms of big and small brands in the spirits category might give the feeling that spirit makers are backtracking in time. But the fact is that they are realistic in facing the roadblocks that come from increasing media restrictions and a highly regulated environment for their product category. Hence, they have resorted to interactive platforms like marketing events, brand connoisseurship and tasting sessions in forging associations with the consumer. Interestingly, by being unobtrusive they have stealthily managed to be in public reckoning.... more