Someone mentioned Baileys in the chatterbox - so off I went to rescue its nodeshell!.....
Baileys Irish Cream is owned by United Distillers & Vitners - the dominant drinks company in the UK. UDV also owns a huge number of other brands, including
Bell's Whisky
Archers Peach Schnapps
Croft Original Sherry
Drambuie
Disaronno Amaretto
Gordons Gin
Jack Daniels
Malibu
Southern Comfort
Jose Cuervo Tequila
Pimm's No. 1
Smirnoff Vodka
Tanqueray Gin
Sheridan's Liqueur
Johnnie Walker
Le Piat D'or Wine.
UDV spends over £35m per year advertising these brands.
Baileys was launched in 1974, and currently 1,600 glasses of Baileys are consumed every minute of every day in over 130 countries worldwide.
Made with 50% fresh Irish dairy cream, 4.3% of the total milk production of Ireland goes into the making of Bailey's. One serving of Baileys contains 117 calories.
In pubs and bars Baileys is served as a spirit, but to compensate for its relatively low alcohol content it is always served in double measures, over ice. Traditionally a very high percentage of the product is sold for home consumption. Recently however the advertising agency responsible for Baileys (Carat) devised a strategy to promote Baileys as a more sociable drink and encourage increased consumption in pubs and bars.
A TV campaign gave it a younger and sexier image - targeting mainly young ABC1 women - and the brand sponsored Sex and The City in order to remain in the consciousness of its target audience. This initiative has worked and there has been an increase in on-trade consumption of Baileys.