McDowell to add football kick to Celebration Rum

Vijay Mallya's United Spirits is planning to add the powerful kick of the beautiful game, football, to its McDowell's Celebration Rum. The goal: to increase the rum's sale by 12% next year. More than 10 million cases of the Celebration Rum were sold in the last fiscal; it is the third-largest selling rum in the world.

Explaining the rationale of the initiative to the media, United Spirits (USL) business head, Mathew Xavier, said that football was the most popular sport in India after cricket, and thus a good platform to promote the brand.

He said that the USL expected the association with football to result in a sales rise of 1 lakh cases per month. The company will launch its campaign with a national 'freestyle football extravaganza', to be referred to as McDowell's Freestyle Friendzy, from November 27. The event will cover 21 cities and will call upon participants to demonstrate dribbling and other skills.