Royal Salute has set an ambitious course: double its global net sales value by 2025 and claim the No. 1 spot in prestige Scotch by 2035. A refreshed positioning—“Enchanting Wonder”—has sparked early momentum, yet the brand’s growth trails faster-moving rivals such as Macallan and leading Japanese whiskies. Previous campaigns have struggled to lift premium perception or deepen engagement among China’s luxury whisky drinkers, leaving Royal Salute searching for sharper, locally resonant ways to express its heritage and value proposition.
Business performance and brand equity had split into two stubborn problems. On the one hand, affluent consumers were turning to other brands with more modern and appealing prestige cues, leading to a decline in Royal Salute’s market share. On the other hand, Royal Salute’s “high-end” image—long grounded in its royal associations—was no longer translating automatically into aspiring luxury codes for China’s new-generation connoisseurs. Labbrand’s task, therefore, was to decode what modern Chinese luxury drinkers expect from an ultra-premium spirit and to translate Royal Salute’s British-royal DNA into symbols, stories, and experiences compelling enough to win them back.
Labbrand built a two-phase insight engine that wove cultural semiotics together with direct consumer validation. The first phase mapped the luxury landscape across adjacent high-end categories, forecasting luxury trends and identifying white-space opportunities where Royal Salute’s heritage could feel newly modern. In addition to informing the strategic communication direction, our luxury semiotic mapping provides inspiration of verbal articulations and visual expressions for Royal Salute to refine and elevate its communication concept development. The second phase convened focus groups of affluent Chinese whisky drinkers to test the resonance, desirability, and relevance of Royal Salute’s new communication concept and how they echo with premium-spirit drivers and moments of consumption. It also includes a comprehensive assessment of Royal Salute’s brand equity, covering brand image, consumer associations, and the effectiveness of future communication concepts. Insights were guided by Labbrand’s Three Power Model (Leadership-Experience-Influence): reinforcing perceived industry authority, curating a sensorially rich brand experience, and forging partnerships with culturally credible tastemakers.
The integrated methodology delivered a market-ready playbook that reconnects Royal Salute with the aspirations of China’s luxury class. Strategic guidelines translate semiotic findings into executional detail—from narrative territories and visual symbolism to event partnerships and on-trade rituals—each validated in consumers’ own language for cultural precision. The recommendations modernize Royal Salute’s royal heritage while clarifying what leadership looks like in today’s prestige-whisky arena, setting the stage for stronger brand persuasion, richer drinking experiences, and, ultimately, accelerated share growth.
Labbrand is the leading China-originated global brand consultancy with regional operations in APAC (Shanghai, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur), Europe (Paris), and North America (New York). We drive forward the positive power of branding. Leading brands on impactful journeys, we create meaningful brand experiences by bringing together excellence in research, strategy, design, and verbal identity.
About Royal Salute
Royal Salute, created as a coronation gift for the young Princess Elizabeth in 1953, continues to mark each significant event in the lives of the British Monarchy. Royal Salute is unique in having only ever used whiskies aged at least 21 years in its blends. It is this unique commitment to quality and tradition that has given rise to the informal motto, “We Begin Where Others End”. The brand has been part of Pernod Ricard since 2001.
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