A Clever Tonic
As a small business, you may be operating in a specific locality and over the years built up formidable market share in that area. As often happens, a new 'business on the block' emerges, perhaps with an ambitious leader, a modern brand image and decent service offering. You welcome the competitor but start to be feel a bit protective. You look inward at your team, your brand, your product and wonder if it's strong enough. Maybe you feel that your small business needs a 'kick' or possibly even a reinvention. Does this sound familiar?
This is what happened Diageo with its gin product, Gordon's. While the brand had a comfortable 38% share, newer gins – particularly of a premium variety – threatened to steal its customers. Gordon’s decided they needed to change.They looked at their brand, decided where it needed to be and focused their creatives; more colour and more wit.
The new strategy was to appeal to the 18- to 34-year-old female drinker. Unlike many of its competitors, Gordon’s decided not to focus on ingredients or provenance, instead preferring to zone in on people’s motivations: meeting for a gin and a catch-up.
Gordon's has more than doubled in size in 3 years. Not bad for a 250-year-old brand.
Interestingly, Diageo seems to be following a similar strategy to Constellation Brands, which we covered last week.
“There will be a growth momentum behind the affordable luxury and our focus is to enable consumers to drink better, and not more." Global Digital Director, Sridhar B.
Mutual Benefit
When you want to raise awareness about how your business is solving an ever-growing societal problem like global water shortage, how do you do it? Who do you try to communicate with? Football has a massive global appeal and fans are growing in the U.S., India and China.
On the other side of the coin, taking on a sponsor is not all about the money. The sponsor can also boost your brand image.
Do It Right Or Don't Do It At All
If you're forward-thinking, you are looking at trends and which ones are likely to stick. As Biden looks set to take control of the White House, the earth and its preservation is likely to come under increased focus. The Greta Effect, as we highlighted recently, is motivating some customers to look for greener products and many businesses around the world will likely respond. Our advice; don't just leave it to your marketing guy!
"It takes less time to do a thing right than to explain why you did it wrong." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Last year, Mowi was heralded as the world's most sustainable protein producer. However, in recent months it has come under serious pressure. One such pressure is for misleading consumers with false marketing claims. The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) say that, in addition to false "All Natural" and "100% All Natural" packaging and marketing claims, Mowi misleads consumers by claiming its farmed salmon is "sustainably sourced," "environmentally sustainable" and "eco-friendly," suggesting to consumers that the products are made from salmon sourced in accordance with higher environmental and animal welfare standards.
Before you dive into this green new world, it will pay to do it properly. For further reading, the FT recently published "Sustainable fashion? There’s no such thing. The industry’s marketing may be ultra-green but the reality is very different".
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