Sid Patel, CEO of the London Spirits Competition chats with leading Brand Ambassadors, and here is what they have to say.

Lucas Bucton, Brand Ambassador at Banks & Solander Distillery:

Being in a small team, I have to ensure that I am versatile in many roles and able to spread brand awareness in as many ways as possible, this includes but is not limited to Being in charge of both on and off-premise sales, delivering orders to accounts based in the Greater Sydney region and sometime beyond, hosting tastings and events at bottle shops, doing markets and other spirits festivals, conducting training for venue staff, creative content creation and being the overall face of the brand.

Lucas Bucton, Brand Ambassador at Banks & Solander Distillery.

Proving myself as an educated and trustworthy personality that people and businesses want to work with. There is a bar quite close to me that I would constantly visit, talk cocktails with the owners, throw ideas around with them, help them out with any questions they had, teach them techniques that they weren't aware of, and invite them to the distillery for a tour. Now they are running with our Vodka as their house pour for all vodka cocktails.

Jamie Morrison, Global Brand Ambassador The Glenturret.

As a Global Brand Ambassador, I am responsible for brand education, be that with end consumers, on-trade venue staff, off-trade retail staff, or whomever. I will travel and conduct seminars, and brand training sessions (virtually and in person). I work closely with our marketing team to feed intel on market trends, market visit plans, trade events, etc. 

For me brand education begins at home, everyone on site must have a full understanding of our whisky and the technicality behind its creation (as much as I can). 

I'm really lucky to work closely with our whisky maker, this gives me an understanding of how the whisky is put together each year, I assist with tasting notes (career highlight so far), and I also get to be one of the first people on site to see a fully prepped vatting of a new product which is awesome!

Jamie Morrison, Global Brand Ambassador The Glenturret.

I would say the biggest challenge I face is that although I would love to see our brand in some markets and in particular some venues. I know that due to volume it simply right now isn't feasible. That means I have to have some difficult conversations with people who are desperate to list us or who want to be our importer in X or Y territory. Nobody likes to disappoint people but there is no point promising the earth then delivering less than promised.

I think in that way we are very transparent and genuine in what we say and what we deliver which I'm particularly proud of. Integrity is important.

Jamie Morrison, Global Brand Ambassador The Glenturret.

Connor Howlett, Brand Ambassador at Stillgarden Distillery

Gardening, foraging & harvesting, community work: I look after and manage the community garden, ensuring that the botanicals we grow are looked after and organic. I managed this with the help of our volunteer community, the Social Botanists who started out as a small group of bartenders during the beginning of the pandemic, and then expanded to anyone who wanted to get involved. We'll grow what we can, sustainably forage what we can, and then approach local producers and look farther when we need to. I also work with local community groups for community plantings, wildlife walks, and clean-ups.

As for the role of a Brand Ambassador, I represent the brand for bartenders as the friendly face of Stillgarden. I'll advocate for the brand at public events, but also out in trade, whether that's through panel discussions, sampling, training, foraging walks, or organizing activations.

Business Development is also a big part of my role. I help with ideas for new products, such as Glas and Buí, and expand the reach of the brand into venues. I'll spend about 3/4 of my time out in trade, offering support to venues who already work with us, and also introducing the brand into new venues.

Connor Howlett on Podcast.

I think the biggest challenge in my role for me is Time! There's never enough to get to see all the people we want to see, and there are only so many (one) places (s) you can be at any given time... 

Josh Rooms, Brand Ambassador at Brixton Distillery Co.

I was working at The Cocktail Trading Company in Brick Lane when Mikey and Chris came in to get me to sample Market Row. I liked the rum but didn’t think I would be able to stock it at the time as we had just launched a new menu.

Josh Rooms, Brand Ambassador at Brixton Distillery Co.

A couple of days later Chris got in contact asking if I knew anyone who would like to work with the brand and I decided I wanted a new challenge. I had been bartending for over a decade with only a small change of career for Covid and was looking for a new challenge and happily, I got the job.

Josh Rooms, Brand Ambassador at Brixton Distillery Co.

Balancing production with sales is probably one of the larger challenges. It can be quite hard to switch mindset from distilling to going out on the trade although at other times it can be a welcome break.