Amid stiff competition from industry giant Diageo PLC, Seagram late last year announced that it would restructure its marketing operations, sharpening the focus on four flagship brands: Chivas Regal Scotch whisky, Crown Royal whiskey, Martell cognac and Captain Morgan rum. Seagram's steps are part of an industry trend to promote powerful brands globally, while selling products with narrower appeal in selected local and regional markets. The trendhas accelerated since the 1997 merger of Guinness PLC and Grand Metropolitan PLC to form Diageo, the world's largest maker of premium brand-name spirits.

"As the world gets smaller, you can start to talk to consumers in a more consistent way," says Tripodi. "When you have a powerful idea, it will travel worldwide." As an example, he points to a series of MasterCard ads he developed, that feature priceless moments ranging from sinking a golf hole-in-one to realising your zipper is down before anyone else does. MasterCard's World Cup ads, for instance, ended with different five-second scenes featuring fans from the countries in which they were to run. "Obviously, we'd like to do similar things at Seagram," Tripodi says.

The Asian Wall Street Journal