Jim Beam has revealed how reaching out directly to female drinkers has boosted its bottom line.
Rebecca Messina, SVP/global CMO for Beam Suntory, revealed details of its “Whiskey and Women” research project at the Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) 2018 Brand Masters conference.
She said the project helped guide the company towards adopting a new positioning for Jim Beam.
“We found that 30% of the growth was coming from women in a beverage category where no one was talking about women, no one was showing women,” Messina said. “I just felt that we could do better than that.”
Actress Mila Kunis spearhead the new marketing direction. Since Kunis signed on in 2013, sales volume has spiked 24%.
“A male will say this: ‘Let me show you how to drink whiskey.’ He’s going to tell her how to drink it his way,” Messina said. “A female has this little thing called empathy. And she says, ‘Oh, what do you like to drink? That’s where to start.’”
Talking to women “was a very, very simple idea”, she conceded.
Another benefit of this approach: “When we show women drinking whiskey, men will come. But when we show men drinking whiskey, sometimes women won’t,” Messina said.
The company has also created releases such as Jim Beam Apple and Jim Beam Vanilla, which are easy entry points to bourbon and have a strong appeal to both sexes.
Megan Frank, VP of global marketing, told Drinks Business last year that flavoured whiskeys were key to attracting new drinkers and expanding the brand into new occasions.
As for who those new drinkers are: “It depends on the flavour, though some do over-index on female and multicultural consumers.
She added: “We’re outpacing Jack Daniel’s in the developed markets,” she retorts. For Jim Beam, ‘developed’ means the US, Germany and Australia where “we’re the number-one spirits brand”.
Kunis launched Jim Beam Vanilla with master distiller, Fred Noe, last year (pictured above).
“Mila is the kind of girl everybody wants to hang out with,” says Fred Noe. “We love to laugh and cuss and raise hell and enjoy the bourbon. When this thing started, our former CMO, Kevin George, told me he saw an opportunity to introduce women to whiskey, and he was looking for a spokesperson to whom everybody will relate. Partnering with Mila has been a match made in heaven.”
Kunis added: “There’s an emptiness in the market for females promoting brown spirits. I see women promoting wine and ultra-feminine drinks, and I think whiskey is not any less feminine. I wanted to open that door and say it’s OK for women to order a whiskey and be just as empowered as if she ordered a Cosmo.”
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