Diageo’s Johnnie Walker brand has been named to the Fast Company World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies list. Johnnie Walker, the world’s number one selling Blended Scotch Whisky, was honored “for thinking globally but pulling heartstrings locally.” According to the publication, the editorial team “spends months gathering and sifting data, to identify those enterprises that exemplify the best in business from across the economy and around the world.” The list “reflects revenue growth and profit margins but also progressive, sustainable business models and an ethos of creativity.”
Is Johnnie Walker just another phrase for “upward mobility”? For a new global middle class, it sure sounds that way. “There are opportunities in countries around the world to capture a zeitgeist, the sense of momentum,” says global brand director Gavin Pike. The $3 billion Scotch brand contributes about half of parent company Diageo’s total sales volume (Johnnie Walker surpassed sales of 20 million cases for the first time last year). It does this in part by deploying local teams to plumb the collective psyche of its target markets–and then customizing its “Keep Walking” campaign to speak to the new regions’ aspirations. The result: 80% of Johnnie Walker’s 2013 growth came from emerging markets. Recent local efforts include:
1. Brazil
Ads show a mountain transforming into a giant and walking off, as urban Brazilians stop to watch. The message, “The giant is no longer asleep,” hits how locals feel about their economy.
2. South Africa
In TV spots, a black man in a suit strides through ghostly figures from a newly postapartheid past–as they vote, cheer, or just play rugby. Voice-over: “Our future will not be written by the great strides of yesterday, but by the ones we take today.”
3. South Korea
To capture the Asian market’s love of exclusivity, the brand opened a membership club, called House of Walker, in Seoul (its third on the continent), that hosts art, dinners, and, of course, Scotch tastings.
Check out the full list here: http://www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2014/johnnie-walker.
