Brand Cellar's ambitious plans for heritage UK names in Greater China

UK-based The Brand Cellar, which calls itself a 'brand reinvention specialist', opened its Hong Kong office in February this year. Its business model is based on acquiring and reinvigorating lost, underperforming or tired brands who do not have the resources to expand beyond their domestic boundaries.

Luxury penmaker Conway Stewart, independently-distilled Glen Rossie Whisky, and meat retailer Dewhurst the Master Butcher are set to be introduced to consumers in Asia, the agency said.

Andrew Harrison, group global brands director, said these brands -  which had their heydays long ago - now require "a bit of flair and imagination" for their brand positions to be recreated. "It's like nursing a wounded or sick animal back to health," he said.

Harrison's marketing credentials span from a number of marketing director roles at multinationals Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola and Nestle.

Conway Stewart, in particular, had its brand positioning realigned and its global relaunch marked to happen by the end of 2011. The luxury fountain pen has been handmade in England since 1905 with high-end materials including 18-carat gold nibs. Users include Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh, Winston Churchill and Tony Blair. Only 5000 pens are crafted every year for individually bespoke orders.

Over the next three years, The Brand Cellar aims to achieve sales of US$162 million (100 million pounds sterling) for each brand in the portfolio. Such returns don't come cheap however — The Brand Cellar says it is investing a seven-digit sum for the combined marketing push.

"Asia is a strategic priority for the Brand Cellar's global expansion as demand for high-end goods has never been higher here", said Rodney Walker, chairman of The Brand Cellar. He says the agency will partner with licensees in key markets to ensure international brand consistency and "to release the potential of these much loved brands."

The Brand Cellar's core markets for growth are Greater China, India and the United Arab Emirates. Group CEO David Birchall, with ten years of experience in corporate acquisitons and turnarounds, is strategically placed in Hong Kong in order to be close to these markets. "Hong Kong is a superb gateway to China and the Far East," he told Campaign. "We want to be here because conglomerates like Li & Fung are here." Beijing and Shanghai are next in the frame for The Brand Cellar's expansion grid.

"We believe passionately that brands have a life and a value beyond the businesses that they represent, and we are determined to find new ways to make these brands relevant to today's consumers," Birchall added.

But making them relevant to wealthy Chinese consumers who crave luxury brands with long European histories, like Prada, Chanel or Louis Vuitton, will be a tough nut to crack.  Even today, Conway Stewart, Glen Rossie and Dewhurst are relatively unknown, even in the UK.

When asked about how to tackle this barrier of unfamiliarity, Harrison said the trick was to strike a balance between brand exclusivity and ostentatiousness. "We want these brands to have an element of mystique; we want Chinese consumers to discover them," he said. "Seeding the products in the right avenues is better as opposed to us aggressively marketing the brand to them — It's about taking the English approach to luxury to meet Chinese expectations."

The company has already made 111 trademark registrations in 33 countries and acquired 10 heritage brands, including seven which are over 100 years old. Global trademarks are handled via DLA Piper. Impactasia is its PR and events consultancy.

The Brand Cellar is privately funded by its directors, high net worth individuals from the retail, manufacturing and distribution sectors. As such, it holds no debt to banks or private equity firms.

Apart from fountain pens, scotch whisky and fresh meat, the brand reinvention specialist has set its sights on some Chinese products. These include a wooden comb and a cake its British founders cannot pronounce in Mandarin. Loosely translated, it means 'the cake you wouldn't give your dog'.

It may still be early days to take the 'Made In China' brand concept overseas to the Western world, but it's on The Brand Cellar's long-term to-do list.