Diageo Canada found just the right ingredient to drive brand growth: a Canadian twist.
Eighteen months ago, the spirits company (part of U.K.-based Diageo) shifted from picking up global creative to developing homegrown campaigns that better connect with Canadians.
And consumers drank it up: consumption of Diageo Canada’s core brands, which include Captain Morgan’s, Crown Royal, Smirnoff and Johnnie Walker, increased 2.9% in the first half of 2015. In addition, key brand metrics saw positive increases, including awareness (15%) and trial (20%).
It was an impressive feat, given that in June 2014, Diageo Canada cut its marketing department by 50%, going from 34 people down to 17.
“We streamlined [our department] and took a different attitude in terms of making quicker decisions… and working more collaboratively with our agencies,” says Iain Chalmers, vice-president of marketing at Diageo Canada, whose agency partners include Traffik Group, Grip Limited and Trevor//Peter. “[Canadians] are all used to working with less resources; we figured out a way and made things happen.”
With an eye on brand growth, Diageo significantly increased its creative output, launching more than a dozen campaigns across its portfolio and putting Canadian insights at the heart of each one. As Diageo discovered, Canadians aren’t as status-driven as other global consumers, instead responding to advertising that’s more relatable. “Canadians are much more literal when they look at advertising to the point that they need to see themselves or their friends in the ad,” says Chalmers.
In the fall of 2014, a humorous campaign for Captain Morgan called #LikeaCaptain invited consumers (with the bullseye of 24-year-old males) to show how they live life “like a captain” for the chance to win cash prizes. Participants could submit their videos online and the top ones were re-edited for social media. The campaign also included a TV spot, a paid Instagram video, and a partnership with Buzzfeed, which published branded content about living like a captain.
When the contest wrapped, the campaign continued with 15-second ads showing men how to date, score goals and camp like a captain. And this past spring, it continued with a sponsorship of the NHL playoffs.
In a category experiencing sales declines, Captain Morgan saw depletions growth (the volume of product it sold, basically) accelerate to +3.7%MAT (Aug 2015) from +2.4%MAT (Aug 2014). Brand awareness for Captain Morgan grew from 66% to 76% among target consumers.
In the spring, Captain Morgan again spoke directly to Canadians – this time to Newfoundlanders, who see their rum a little differently than the rest of the country, literally.
Then, this past summer, Diageo Canada launched Jeremiah Weed Spiked Iced Tea, again taking a fun and irreverent approach to court young male drinkers. The “Sip on That” campaign was centred on a video series of “thought-provoking questions” and “refreshing thoughts,” asking consumers questions like, “If you have X-ray vision, what would happen when you close your eyes.
The campaign included out-of-home, radio ads, audio spots on Spotify, and street teams who invited consumers to share their thoughts on a giant board. Experiential results included 2.3 million impressions nationally, 49,000 engagements and 13,400 refreshing thoughts generated. The saw a combined one million views for all online videos, reaching 25% of the target audience in 90 days.
