Drambuie prides itself on its legends, not least of which is the story that Bonnie Prince Charlie paused briefly as he decamped for France in 1746 to hand the secret recipe of the honeyed liqueur to his faithful aide, Captain John MacKinnon.

Now there could be another legend in the making - and the best way to visualise it is to imagine a genial, energetic Englishman popping up between the Prince and the Captain, taking the royal potion and saying: "Here, let me help you with that."

That, essentially, is what Phil Parnell has done in the current incarnation of the venerable family enterprise, which boasts a 262-year history. As the first-ever outsider appointed to run its affairs, the fast-talking turnaround specialist has arrested a slow, if decorous, decline and returned Drambuie to the balmy uplands of profitability.

It has been no mean feat. In 2001, the company, which once shifted 750,000 cases a year of the distinctive brand, lost £3.3m on turnover of £150m and bank debt was an onerous burden. Earlier this month, two years after Parnell took the reins, he reported profits up 25% to £2.4m; cash in the bank up to £7.7m; and shareholders' funds up 77% at £19m.

And although asset sales and disposals have kick-started the strategy, it has not gone unnoticed in the sector that volume is once again on the way up after years during which the graph was like a downhill ski slope. Parnell is calling on his rich seam of marketing expertise with giants such as Spillers, Guinness and Dunlop Slazenger to bounce the brand out of the ageing after-dinner market into the hands of 28-to-32-year olds who have disposable income and a dash of discernment.

"It is encouraging to see sales moving in the right direction," he said in his headquarters within the huge Glenmorangie complex at Broxburn, West Lothian. "But we have no intention of chasing volume at expense of margin. It is vital to protect premium pricing and the brand's quality status."

Parnell knows a thing or two about the value of a brand, and how reputations which take a lifetime to build can be ruined by carelessness or neglect. And his enthusiasm for a product is not limited by its nature.

For instance, one of his first jobs after leaving Birmingham University was promoting canned catfood at Spillers - a difficult one to impress your university chums with, you might think. But no. Parnell said with apparent enthusiasm: "Actually, marketing petfood was really interesting. You have to consider both the pet and its owner. It was a real challenge."

Born to a father who spent 40 years of his life in the one factory, Parnell was educated in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, at an alma mater he shares with Formula 1's Lewis Hamilton. With a degree in French and German, he went into marketing because the only seeming alternative was teaching and "I wanted to do something commercial".

He said: "Marketing takes in so many strands - product development, finance, sales and strategy.

A brand manager is like the hub of a wheel, reaching out in all directions."

Five years with Spillers led him in 1979 to Guinness, where beer brands were just beginning to realise that marketing might hold some relevance for them. It was there that Parnell came into contact with Ernest Saunders, architect of the Guinness-Distillers merger who later so spectacularly fell from grace.

He remains something of a hero to Parnell. He said: "Regardless of what came later, you have to respect Saunders for the way he turned Guinness round. And Distillers was as much of a turnaround as an acquisition - it harnessed the best of what Distillers had to the sales and marketing that Guinness brought to the party."

He brushes aside the Scottish outrage of the time, when Guinness reneged on promises to headquarter the group north of the Border. "Looking back," he said, "I believe these promises were simply a softening up and a seducing of the Scottish lobby. I don't think it was ever intended to leave the HQ in Scotland.

"Nor do I think the issue was as important as it became emotive. Most of the Distillers directors were aristocratic Scots who spent their time in the Home Counties. The heart of the Scottish business was in the small communities where the distilleries were, and that was where Guinness poured in financial support."

Over 20 years, Parnell rose steadily through the ranks of the drinks conglomerate, ending up in 1998 as commercial director. He left to "develop great British brands" at Dunlop Slazenger, then a tired remnant of the Dunlop tyre empire.

By rationalisation, cost efficiencies and the introduction of proper systems and processes, he pulled the brand off the ropes and back into competition with the likes of Nike and Wilson, before effecting a sale to Sportsworld in 2004.

That was when the call came from Drambuie. Parnell recognised that the family management had made a decent fist of arresting decline, by consolidation of production and abandonment of the ill-fated "cream" brand which was in direct competition with Diageo. But more needed to be done.

"Drambuie on Ice was simply not a robust enough strategic response," he said. "First of all you have to fix the mother brand."

The campaign which Parnell has introduced to attract the favour of a younger market is certainly exciting. The Drambuie Pursuit, allegedly in the footsteps of Charlie, presses all the right testosterone buttons for teams taking part in fast-paced adventure sports.

Parnell says he "would be happy" to see volume back up to around 400,000 cases by 2008 and predicts increased profitability, although he stresses again that the strategy is to protect margin rather than push too hard for sales growth.

"Rebuilding in the on-trade will be a slow and painstaking process," he said.

Current core markets are the US, the UK and, oddly enough, Greece. Parnell is optimistic about prospects in India, with its burgeoning middle classes.

He points out that Drambuie remains 100% family owned, which allows for much greater commercial freedom and flexibility. And he says that the turnaround in the family fortunes has created options for them which could well have been closed off if the decline had been allowed to continue.

As for him, he says he could still be at the helm in five years, but definitely will not be in 10.

"By then," he said, "it will be time for someone else to take over The Pursuit."

Brand new passion Best moment in Business: As marketing director at United Distillers in 1990, kicking off the long-term brand rejuvenation programme for Johnnie Walker, which led to the premium range extension programme which today includes Johnnie Walker Blue, Gold and Green, alongside Red and Black. As a result, Johnnie Walker has continued to account for more than 20% of Scotch whisky exports.

Worst moment in business: At Dunlop Slazenger, having to contemplate declaring the firm insolvent simply because a power play struggle between the American and UK banks in our banking syndicate was preventing the advance of essential working capital funding. Fortunately, reason prevailed at the 11th hour.

What business book are you reading at the moment: Not a book, but the most powerful piece of research that I've read in the past year has been Project EDGE - Strategy Beyond Reason, conducted by Cognosis Consulting. This argues that strategies with "Emotional Edge" deliver far better results than strategies based solely on rational planning and analysis. This is precisely what we're trying to do as a management team at Drambuie and I would like to think that the passion shows through in all our marketing programmes.

What are you driving: A 7 series BMW.

What drives you: Building management teams to rejuvenate brands and businesses - and having some fun doing it.

Immediate ambition: Having stabilised the Drambuie brand after 30 years of decline, to move to the next phase of the brand's rejuvenation by re-establishing growth among a new generation of consumers.