![]() I arrived in May 1977 and do not claim to have been involved in its creation but was heavily involved in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s in the strategic drive to make it a global brand. My main initial job was to build and drive Baileys Irish Cream which, at that stage, was showing promise but very much in its infancy. Tennant brought me to London to head up the first ever Global Marketing Division and to co-ordinate our activities around the world. I first met Tom Jago in the early ‘70s when I was working for Gilbey’s South Africa as the marketing director and was transferred to London at the behest of Sir Anthony Tennant (now sadly no longer with us) who, in his last formal role in life, was the chairman of Guinness PLC. Today it is of course half of Diageo, which speaks for itself. The primary driver behind Baileys was Tom Jago, the head of Innovation and Development at IDV (International Distillers & Vintners) which was the wine and spirit arm of Grand Metropolitan and making very little money – circa £10 million per annum in the mid ‘70s. Many people of course claim to have invented Baileys. Today Baileys is a 7 million case brand worth quite a few billion and an important part of Diageo but it was certainly not like that in the early days. There is a well-known quote that “fame has many fathers and failure is an orphan”. ![]() In response to an article on the drinks business in January, veteran drinks marketer, entrepreneur and co-founder of Last Drop Distillers, James Espey OBE, presents the story behind Baileys with commentary from his late business partner, Tom Jago. ![]()
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