the BBC has linked up with Chivas Brothers, in an ambitious and unique year-long project for BBC News to tell the story of international trade and globalisation by tracking a standard shipping container around the world.
Chivas Regal 12 Year Old will be the first cargo that will be shipped as part of ‘The Box’ project which plans to deliver content for television, radio and online audiences telling the individual stories behind what makes the global economy tick. The whisky will be collected from Paisley, taken to Southampton and then shipped to Asia on the first leg of The Box’s pan-globe journey.
Christian Porta, Chairman and Chief Executive of Chivas Brothers, explains: “Chivas Brothers exports over one million bottles every day around the world so it is logical that the first cargo to be carried by The Box from Scotland is our world-famous Scotch whisky.” He continues: “As the Scotch whisky and premium gin business of Pernod Ricard – the world’s co-leader in wine and spirits - overseas markets are crucial to our phenomenal success. The Far East is particularly important to us as their appetite for luxury whiskies grows and grows – Chivas Regal is the No 1 brand in China and is enjoying truly dynamic growth in the rest of Asia. It will be fascinating to track the shipment on its journey from its home in Scotland to the bars and off licenses of Asia.”
The BBC has painted and branded a shipping container that is fitted with a GPS transmitter so that viewers can follow its progress all year round as it criss-crosses the globe. The BBC hopes that the Box will reach the US, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa and when it does BBC correspondents will be there to report on who is producing goods and who's consuming them.
Porta concludes: “The fact that the BBC is going to be looking at both the producers and the consumers of Chivas Regal will offer a fascinating insight into the life of our flagship Scotch whisky – and will allow the people who make it here in Scotland to feel great pride that their hard work is appreciated in so many countries across the world.”
To follow The Box’s progress, visit: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/629/629/7600053.stm
