A Brand keep walking for 200 Yaers
Hi this is Rahul chakrapani this is a case study of marketing campaigns of a liquor brand called Johnnie Walker
brand image is one of the most essential and perhaps the most difficult aspects of marketing.
It takes years to build a brand image costs you a million, sometimes even a billion dollars,
And if not done right, it could even kill a century-old brand.
And especially when it comes to the spirit business brand image is so crucial that
it can make or break your business.
However, Johnnie Walker is one of those brands that has practically mastered
the art of brand communication and the legacy of Johnnie Walker has continued for 200 years.
And this legacy makes Johnnie Walker a marketing masterpiece to learn from
What started as an obsession for consistent tasting whiskey by a grocery boy
then went on to become a business empire that has spanned for 4 generations and scaled across 180 countries.
But after 150 years of being the most popular whiskey brand in the world,
by the end of the 20th century, Johnnie Walker faced one of the most difficult challenges
faced by every age-old brand and that is an identity crisis.
But the way they reacted to this crisis taught the world an incredible lesson in marketing.
HISTORY WALKER
This is a story that dates back to 1999 wherein within just 3 years
Johnnie Walker saw a disastrous decline in sales by 14%.
And when the board actually dug in to find out what exactly was wrong?
They discovered that Johnnie Walker had 27 campaigns running all across the world.
Each of these campaigns had a different message and
the brand did not have a substantial image of itself.
Apart from this, the megatrend in the 1980s and
the 1990s was inclining towards wine and vodka.
the popularity of whiskey as a drink fell drastically among American consumers.
Marketers of Johnnie Walker
And this megatrend led to a 20% decline in the whiskey sales volume.
This is when the parent company of Johnnie Walker,
Diageo stepped in and they brought together an amazing team of marketers
just so that they can understand how can they revive the brand and
build a brand image that can stand tall in the modern age.
And guess what?
The campaign that they designed turned out to be so magical that within the next 15 years,
it turned Johnny Walker into a $2.2 billion brand.
And not just that The slogans of Johnnie Walker became so popular that they became a part of the pro-democracy protest.
The question is What was so amazing about this campaign and how did a whiskey tagline go on to inspire a protest slogan?
The answer to this question lies in the superintense market research done by Johnnie Walker marketeers.
And after doing a detailed survey, they realized that there were 3 major problems with the brand.
Problems of johnnie Walker
1.Old Mans Drink
whiskey was being viewed as an old man’s drink because of which the youth did not connect with any whiskey brand, in general.
2. Brand Persona
all across the world since they had 27 campaigns running parallelly each one of them had a different message
because of which no one had any clear idea about exactly is the brand persona of Johnnie Walker.
For example
everybody knows that
Nike is all about being bold and pursuing greatness.
Apple is all about being different and being creative
Tesla is all about the future and going green.
But Johnnie Walker did not have anything concrete associated with it.
3. self-obsessed narrative of marketing
the narrative of the marketing message was just self-obsessed and it almost looked like bragging.
It was all about ‘We the Johnnie Walker are the most awarded scotch in the world.
We the Johnnie Walker have a heritage of 150 years.
We the Johnnie Walker are a premium brand.’ and so on.
And this narrative developed a disconnect with the audience,
So you know what?
Johnnie Walker’s Marketing Plan
The marketeers of Johnnie Walker took 3 radical steps which redefined Johnnie Walker to the world.
One Campaign One Message
they killed all their campaigns and put together a team that would work
specifically on communicating just one core message.
they said instead of pleasing everybody let’s just stand by our core values and
appeal to only a limited segment of people who would believe in what we believe.
New Johnnie Walker Logo
they changed the striding man himself and instead of the old cartoon figure
who was full of personality, and charm
they decided to rebuild it into something more modern, something more minimalistic and sleek.
This was done just so that it could appeal to a younger audience.
New Narrative
And last and most importantly the most crucial step that they took was
to change the narrative of the marketing message.
That is, instead of talking about themselves
they said, ‘Let’s talk about you, the customers.’
Instead of coming out with their ideas and assumptions about masculinity
they directly went and spoke to their ideal customers that are, men of the age of 25-35.
Idea Of Sucsess
Now, this was a huge survey that was conducted all across the world just so that
they could understand what is their audience’s idea of success.
And this gave them a golden insight. While most brands assume that men are
lured by materialistic success like having a fancy car or a rich lifestyle.
The marketeers of Johnnie Walker discovered that more than the external success,
it was the inner sense of progress, the inner confidence that their customers valued the most.
And the fact that to a man, whiskey was an embodiment of his personality and
they always want to hold on to something that represented what they truly believed in.
Weep Walking Campaign
And all of this boiled down to one key marketing message and that is to keep walking despite the obstacles.
And that is what ladies and gentlemen inspired the iconic ‘Keep Walking’ campaign.
And this campaign did not speak a word about whiskey
instead, it spoke obsessively about the customers.
Instead of saying ‘We are the most awarded scotch. We have a heritage of 100 years.’
Their marketing message said
‘If you have the spirit to deal with the obstacles of your life
If you believe in achieving greatness despite the pitfalls
If you believe in becoming a better version of yourself every single day.
Let us be your companion to keep you walking.
Johnny Walker, keep walking.’
And they featured the stories of great individuals like Lincoln’s quote in the print magazine
to depict the fact that Lincoln kept walking despite all the obstacles in life
only to become a legendary president.
In media, they featured the great footballer Roberto Baggio
wherein he overcame his nightmare of missing the penalty at the 1994 World Cup final.
And guess what?
GROWTH
Soon enough the campaign was on fire within the next few years
Johnnie Walker went from having a sales decline
to see a tremendous sales increase by almost 100% in the next 15 years
wherein they sold 19 million 9 litre cases as compared to 10 million in 1999.
This is how ladies and gentlemen Johnnie Walker established a legacy in advertising and
since then they have constantly brought along new derivatives of their ‘Keep Walking’ campaign.
And these campaigns range from topical to historic events
just so that they could keep striking a chord with the audience.
And one of the ‘Keep Walking’ campaigns held in Brazil
in 2011 had become such a symbol of perseverance and determination
that when the Brazil protest erupted in 2013
people turned the “Keep Walking” slogan into “Keep Fighting” and
held the slogan to state their determination to achieve change.
apart from the vogue image, Johnnie Walker is so keen on catching up with the new-age marketing strategies that
they are one of the first spirit brands to experiment with social media and influencer marketing strategies.
And this move speaks volumes about how much they have learned as a brand from their own mistakes.
lessons from Johnnie Walker case study.
Now there are 3 very important lessons that we need to take out of this Johnnie Walker case study.
Art of story telling
perceived value is underrated.
If you take a step back, you will realise that I did not speak a word about how
Johnnie Walker was trying to make their whiskey tastier or smoother.
The entire turnaround was brought along, not because Johnnie Walker tasted better
because it’s still the exact same whiskey served in the exact same bottle that was sold 100 years back.
the only thing that changed was the story of the brand that turned its tables around eventually, made a billion dollars.
consumer perception
no brand is too big to falter. you might have a 200-year-old legacy,
you might be spread across 180 countries but if you do not pay attention
to the fundamental truths of consumer perception
it is only a matter of time that you’d go from an icon to being a forgotten icon.
Unfortunately, Old Monk is a standing example of the same.
Products are embodiment of personality.
And last and most importantly every marketeer needs to understand that
every consumer knowingly or unknowingly looks for a product that is an embodiment of his/her personality.
And the job of the marketeer is not to tell the story of the brand but to tell the story of the consumer himself
because at the end of the day the perception of the brand is nothing but the reflection of the customer’s personality.
And hence, the narrative must always be about the customer and not about the company.
This is how ladies and gentlemen Johnnie Walker taught the world an incredible marketing lesson on how to build a timeless brand.
