Tito’s Vodka gains new airline and travel retail listings

Tito’s International has just achieved a new listing with Aer Lingus to follow its recent deal with Lagardere in Europe.

Speaking exclusively to the drinks business about the new deals and the brand’s presence across Asia, Tito’s International managing director John McDonnell said: “We are doing very well in the region. We have Korea duty free, Singapore duty free, Vietnam duty free. We just want to keep up the momentum.”

McDonnell explained: “We are also trying to increase our small size on penetration because we found during the pandemic that people wanted to drink small sizes. For airlines we are going to try to focus on the 50ml format and the big news on airlines is that we just landed Aer Lingus. It’s a big deal for us” and noted: “We also secured Lagardere in Europe just a few weeks ago too”.

McDonnell revealed that the vodka brand was competing with gin for space within retail and admitted that he was on a mission to show how vodka was more of a volume driver, something to rely upon while the gin trend wanes.

McDonnell told db: “We try to get retailers to cut back on the space they are giving to gin and increase the space they’re giving to vodka. There’s a disproportionate shelf allocation when you go around the world with gin vs vodka. But when you look around the world at the volume of vodka versus gin, it is much greater for vodka.”