The Macallan Cathedrals
BACKGROUND
The Macallan Highland Single Malt scotch whisky
is a successful international brand, with a
deserved reputation for consistently high quality
and distinctive style wherever it is sold. In recent
years the Global Travel Retail (GTR) market has
become increasingly important to The Macallan,
as it has evolved from Duty Free into a haven for
luxury goods shoppers, particularly in international
hub airports.
Realising the growing importance of the GTR
channel, and influence of the wealthy consumers
who shop in it, The Macallan set about
establishing a consistent and prominent presence
in this competitive luxury market, which would
underpin the brand’s positioning as the world’s
most precious spirit.
OBJECTIVES
In May 2007, Ignition Marketing were briefed to
create ‘cathedral’ outlets for global travel retail,
emphasising the preciousness of the spirit
through The Macallan’s Six Pillar, the brand
tenets which guide the makers of The Macallan
to ensure the continuation of the brand’s hardwon reputation for product excellence. The key
objectives of the project were:

Maximise brand visibility

Generate consumer engagement with
the brand

Position The Macallan clearly as a
luxurious and iconic spirit brand

Provide a platform for communicating
The Macallan’s Six Pillars

Achieve placement in 3 international hub
airports

Generate immediate sales uplift in retail
outlets where installed
CONSIDERATIONS
In addition to the Objectives, Ignition and
Edrington identified a number of key
considerations that the design would have to
address:
To own luxury positioning for the whisky sector in
GTR, The Macallan would have to display luxury
product.
As well as providing a showcase for luxury
product, the display units would also require to
be shoppable. Merchandising The Macallan
Elegancia, a traditional sherry oak expression,
and the new lighter style The Macallan Fine Oak,
in a single unit, required a marriage of traditional
and contemporary style which was important in
defining our design direction.
Print advertising may run in the airport while the
cathedral is in place, so the design unit must fit
with the ad campaign.
Airport retail provides a bright and visually busy
shopping environment, with huge competition for
visibility and little consumer interaction.
TARGET AUDIENCE
DESIGN SOLUTION
Typically, ABC1, over 35 years old, single or
group business-travellers or tourists who may be
regular spirit buyers in this channel in many
markets worldwide, though primarily in the Far
East. Most are Mood shoppers, impulsive and
driven by experiential motivations, or Apathetic
shoppers on pre-planned shopping missions.
Having identified that the real story of The
Macallan is in the wood, we faced the challenge
of educating consumers about a little understood
and highly technical element of whisky making
through a product display which retailers would
demand would be heavily merchandised.
They are likely to be reasonably experienced and
regular whisky drinkers, with a small repertoire of
favoured brands. They will know The Macallan’s
reputation for outstanding quality, but may not
know why the product is exceptional amongst
malts, and will require reassurance that the
premium price reflects premium quality.
To facilitate a deeper understanding of and
involvement in the Macallan story, the display
would incorporate tactile interactivity - ‘touch and
feel’ over ‘look and see’ – appropriate to a brand
that has built its fame on craftsmanship. Design
therefore should allow a platform for tactile
interactivity that would enhance the elegance of
the display.
STRATEGY
Before putting pen to paper, Ignition embarked on
a brand and market immersion programme
including distillery and airport visits, informal
research with airport retail staff and the
Macallan’s sales staff, review of competitor and
non-competing luxury displays in GTR (e.g.
perfumery, jewellery, luggage).
This immersion helped develop design strategy
and ensured that retailer requirements, such as
health and safety, were considered.
From this process, it became clear that of The
Macallan’s Six Pillars, ‘Exceptional Oak Casks’ is
the mightiest. The Macallan know that the single
greatest influence on the final aroma, flavour and
quality of the whisky is the wood. The exceptional
investment they make - in time, labour and money
– in managing the procurement and care of oak
casks being the single most important reason for
The Macallan’s consistent excellence. This story,
The Macallan’s Mastery of Wood, was the story
we felt consumers should be told at the point of
sale.
In deciding upon the base materials for creating
the Embassy, using wood - commonly used in
whisky displays – was viewed as an unsubtle way
of getting the point across. Instead, glass was
chosen to bring quality, texture and longevity to
the display, with contrasting black and white
frosted areas adding drama and emphasis. A
square polished black glass pillar (representing
The Macallan’s Six Pillars) and adjacent frosted
white glass wall, would provide the basis for a
modular design system that could be applied to
any airport retail space – from a single shelf to a
floor-standing unit to a wallbay.
Knowing that different sizes and layouts of display
would be required for each installation location,
we began by designing a large wallbay, with 3
Pillars and two wall panels incorporating all core
elements of the Cathedral display.
To involve consumers, simple, tactile interactive
elements were added to the display, representing
the brand’s Mastery of Spirit and Wood.
WOOD
The black glass pillars incorporated highlight
displays of luxury product, such as The Macallan
Lalique, and a central display highlighting
“Exceptional Oak Casks”. A hand-carved
wooden sculpture, similar to one on display at
the distillery, was placed floating at the centre of
the display window to signify the importance of
wood to the quality of the whisky.
Beneath this we placed two sections of oak
wood, one of European Red Oak (quercus robur)
and one of American White oak (quercus alba),
displayed in an open recess to allow consumers
to touch and experience the difference in wood
grain. These oak pieces represented the two
different wood types used to make the oak casks
in which The Macallan’s new make spirit is
matured. On them is printed an explanation of
the role each wood type plays in creating the
Macallan, focusing on the differing colours and
flavours derived from each (pale golds and
vanilla flavours from American Oak, warm golds
and rich mahogany colours and spicy resins and
tannin from European Oak).
The etched glass wall panels feature images of
Easter Elchies House, The Macallan’s “Spiritual
Home”, and the oakleaf and acorn from which
The Macallan’s casks ultimately grow, providing
a backdrop for merchandising stock and for the
Aroma and Natural Colour displays.
AROMA
The Aroma display represents the three different
cask types in which The Macallan is matured –
American Oak casks seasoned with bourbon,
American Oak casks seasoned with sherry and
European Oak casks seasoned with sherry.
This display consists of 3 hand-blown Aroma
Flasks, created by Scottish artist Adrienne McStay,
containing aroma granules impregnated with a
specially made scent to replicate the aromas
imparted to the whisky by each individual casktype used in maturing The Macallan.
Each coloured flask represented a specific cask:



Pale Aroma Flask, filled with floral aromas,
represents American Oak seasoned with
Bourbon.
Amber flask, filled with hints of citrus
lemon, coconut and toffee, represents
American Oak seasoned with sherry.
Dark Aroma Flask, filled with rich dried
fruit, spice and chocolate orange scents,
represents European Oak seasoned with
sherry.
The Aroma display was placed in front of the
Oakleaf wall panel, which includes text describing
the aromas delivered by each cask type.
NATURAL COLOUR
OPTION ADVERTISING
The Natural Colour display communicates the
diversity of colour naturally occurring in The
Macallan as a result of the interaction of spirit and
wood. The display of naked bottles, filled with spirit
from different casks, can be arranged vertically or
horizontally dependent upon the available retail
space, dimensions and layout of the Cathedral.
Finally, print advertising could be incorporated into
the display by printing complete ads or elements
from the advertising (seen here as the classic
bottle shot) directly onto the glass or onto vinyl
placed behind the glass.
IMPLEMENTATION
The first installation, in Barajas Airport in Madrid in
November 2007, presented a challenge we would
meet again – the layout of the retail space
allocated to The Macallan did not fit existing design
proposals. Having initially used a flat wallbay as
our design template (based on a retail space which
had been offered to The Macallan at a UK airport),
the Spanish retailer provided an L-shaped wallbay
dominated by two backlit poster units on one side
and a free-standing gondola.
Working closely with a Spanish supplier to build
the units, Ignition adapted the original designs to fit
the available space, creating a low free-standing
unit which contained all the essential Cathedral
elements.
A key objective of the brief was to attain
consistency in GTR displays installations across
the world. To achieve this we established a
process for approving planned installations which
ensured the opportunity to approve any designs or
construction drawings produced in-market prior to
construction. This involved distributors in each
market alerting Edrington to the opportunity for an
installation. On budget approval, Edrington would
put the distributor and their agency in contact with
Ignition, who would design each unit to fit the
layout and floorplan for each airport store location.
Ignition would then liaise directly with the
distributor and their in-market agency to ensure
that only designs approved by Edrington were
installed.
IMPLEMENTATION (cont.)
To aid this process, a detailed guidelines for
designing and constructing The Macallan
Cathedral displays were produced, including
visuals and technical elevations of each element
of the Cathedrals, materials samples and artwork
for all permissible graphics and texts.
Essential elements of the display – the oakleaf
sculpture, printed oak staves, aroma flasks and
aroma granules – were all produced in the UK and
despatched to markets in advance of any new
installation. This also ensured that both Edrington
and Ignition were given early warning of planned
installations, with the subsequent opportunity to
review and approve floorplans and any designs
and construction drawings produced in market.
RESULTS
Since building the first unit in Madrid, The
Macallan Cathedrals have been installed at 14
sites in airports in Singapore, Hong Kong, Los
Angeles, Seoul, St Petersburg, Taipei, with
additional displays planned and in construction.
Our original objective was to achieve 3
installations.
On average, sales volumes have increased by
more than 80% where Cathedral displays have
been installed, with an immediate sales spike
after installation. Sales value also increased by an
average of 130%, indicating that consumers
shopping the unit were trading-up to more
premium expressions. This has been achieved
despite reducing product merchandising to create
space for interactive brand messaging.
Designs for units for temporary retail siting have
been commissioned by Edrington for global rollout.
CONCLUSION
The Macallan Cathedrals have increased sales in
every market, and every retail outlet, where they
have been installed. They provide luxury
positioning, maximum visibility and educational
consumer interaction which leads to sales. This
has been achieved by using a brand truth - The
Macallan’s Mastery of Wood - to turn a retail
display into an educational brand experience that
engages and motivate consumers