Tulleeho is launching a news service meant for alcohol industry executives and all other interested parties. This is the first issue of the newsletter and our intent is to include national and international news around the following topics:

• Brand launches / repositioning
• Innovative promotions
• Regulatory changes
• Interesting websites
• Executive changes
• Tie ups and alliances
• Liquor commercials / advertising
• Tullee trivia

Info for this newsletter has been culled from a number of sources. Wherever applicable we will include an acknowledgement / link to the source material. We intend to give you this update at a monthly interval.

Bacardi in a renewed bid to popularise Bacardi and Coke (sorry Cola!) has launched a new ad campaign garbed in the form of a TV commercial - with "Bacardi and Cola" as the hero. Visit the commercial at www.bacardiandcola.com. More Bacardi news - Koi Mil Gaya has Young Hrithik imbibing everything from Bournvita to Coke to Bacardi. His consuming Bacardi is part of a prank played on him, which also launched to me the movie's only watchable moment, the song Koi Mil Gaya.

United Breweries in a move which may revolutionise drinking beer at home, set a fuse under other beer marketers and earn the ire of pubs, has launched the sale of a 5 litre keg of draught beer in Bangalore. This can be picked up at select shops.

Focus Brands has bagged the distribution rights for Jose Cuervo for India and the Gulf and shall shortly be launching the world's number one Tequila in the Indian market. Good to know that the global tequila shortage has eased.

Sula is to start exporting wine to France next month. They also got a nice positive mention in a Decanter article on the exploding Indian wine industry. Check out the article here
http://www.decanter.com/news/newsdefault.asp?newsstoryid=1228.
Also in CNN:
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/BUSINESS/09/03/india.wine/

Absolut has launched their latest flavour variant, Vanilia (they forgot how to spell Vanilla or what?). The company says that demand in the launch market (the US) was so high that they had to ship in extra product by jumbo jet. Phew!

Maybe James Bond shift to Finlandia in the movie Die Another Day has prompted this or maybe it's just the explosive growth of superpremium vodkas like Belvedere and Grey Goose. Whatever it is Diageo has just launched one of the largest ever overhauls of the Smirnoff brand with new packaging and an ad campaign. The first part of the ad campaign titled "Neat" positions Smirnoff as great just neat. Recommended reading - New Spirit at Diageo – http://promomagazine.com/ar/marketing_new_spirit_diageo/index.htm

The Indian government cuts liquor quotas for diplomats http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=30585. Also, MG 1, Delhi's hip fashion mall was raided on the occasion of their first anniversary party as the Excise authorities found several bottles of bootleg liquor. Serves them right is our opinion for preferring cheap French table wines to our home grown brands.

Mumbai's Razzberry Rhinoceros is planning a promotion around the Oktoberfest theme on a rather grand scale. The promotion is intended to also include a beverage industry exhibition targeted at consumers and the F&B trade. Interested parties can contact Jayesh at 0 9821969983.

There are to be no more alcohol commercials on television and the radio after 5am and before 10pm. Such ads are also banned in newspapers. Of the US$14 billion spent on advertising annually, just over half are for ads on alcoholic drinks and the ban is likely to have a massive effect on the Thai advertising industry. For more visit
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southeastasia/view/48643/1.html

Harish Moolchandani moves from Allied Domecq CFO to MD, Paramjit Singh takes over as Highland Distillers MD, Sansula ceases operations as some ex-executives resume partial operations under the Sonarys name, Rajeeb Mallick takes over as Director Corporate Affairs, Diageo, Smirnoff has a new Group Product Manager in the form of Darpan (ex Leo Burnett), Kyndal UK, renamed as Whyte and Mackay

Tullee fact: Sula Wines derives its name in part from Rajeev Samant's mother’s name Sulabha. Another wine drawing inspiration from the founder's parent is General Billimoria Wines.

Tulleeho is a marketing and technology services provider for the alcoholic beverage and related sectors. To know more about what we do log on to www.tulleeho.com/about_us.asp

Tull-ee-ho! : A combination of the old hunting cry Tally Ho! and the colloquial Hindi word "tullee" (used both as verb and noun, and signifying a state of inebriation).

To submit your own news to our editorial team, mail news@tulleeho.com