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Is it possible for a legacy alcohol brand to reinvent itself ?
Let ’ s look at the case of Diageo Reserve . This portfolio of heritage brands includes luxury spirits such as Johnnie Walker Scotch Whisky , Don Julio Tequila , Bulleit bourbon , and more . Each of these brand names carries with it a unique heritage and legacy . They each have a taste , an aesthetic , and even a language they speak to consumers .
How can a portfolio like this begin to shift ? The short answer is that a rebranding strategy must be unique yet remain applicable to each specific product and its specific needs .
With Diageo Reserve , our team started by examining how each brand in the portfolio communicated itself to prestigious accounts in its industry . The typical model that suppliers were following was to push brand names into on-premises accounts , share stories with bartenders , and hope those stories were passed along to drinkers to build brand affinity .
Enthuse Marketing reinvented that storytelling strategy and created the Diageo Hospitality Partnership program . The program fostered three different levels through which Diageo could educate the public , flipping the script to be customer-centric first versus historically brand-centric . Master Educators became the face of the brand at a high level , Local Educators brought that message to training scenarios , and Advisors spoke to individual accounts , demonstrating how Reserve brands could fit into each unique bar and menu concept . Each of these field team members took a consultative approach that leveraged industry expertise , employed a variety of approaches to tailor engagement , and met the needs of each individual account . While the Diageo Reserve rebrand was about reinventing the strategy of education , it ’ s important to note that every aspect of a heritage rebrand should be up for reinvention , even the taste . When our team also worked with Captain Morgan , the brand wanted to renovate its famed Spiced Rum formula . To do
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