Giving Johnnie Walker new legs in Asia-Pacific

Ben Anderson wants to talk about sport. A range of new media initiatives by Johnnie Walker have hogged the headlines in recent times, including parent company Diageo's consolidation of its regional CRM business, and an overhaul of the global Johnnie Walker website.

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But global brand director Anderson's prime interest is in a more basic brand property — passion. As his counterparts extol the virtues of platforms such as mobile music and digital interactivity, he remains focused on the label's recent sponsorship of the McLaren Mercedes Formula One team, worth US$30 million a year, and the possibilities it opens up in Asia.

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"When you think F1, you think Monaco, Sao Paolo and these images of style and internationalism, all of which Johnnie Walker is entirely a part of," Anderson says. "Particularly in Asia, it's a really interesting vehicle — forgive the pun — for us at the moment. It's internationally stylish and appealing to the new generation of consumers."
Anderson sees the sponsorship as central to Johnnie Walker's ambitions in the region, where it vies with key rival Chivas Regal for share-of-throat in an expanding market. "The Asian economy is growing at almost twice the global rate, which gives great opportunity for any international spirit like ours. In volume terms, we're growing at 12 per cent in Asia, which is a great performance for us," Anderson points out.

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In Asia, of course, it is impossible to ignore the whopping growth in whisky imports into China. According to the Scotch Whisky Association, China's grew by 124 per cent, compared to North America's seven per cent. Anderson is aiming to capitalise on these eye-popping figures via mainland initatives that build on the F1 tie-up. Key among these is its China version of the global 'Designated driver' campaign, which saw endorsement by national celebrity driver Frankie Chen, a role that was played by Juan Pablo Montoya in the global blitz.

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"The challenge is really keeping the brand relevant for the next generation of Asian consumers. Certainly, initiatives like F1 and the Johnnie Walker Classic come into play, but we're also recruiting fresh ways to promote these," Anderson notes. "The average 25-year-old man, our target audience, isn't waiting for an ad to come on TV. I think consumers this day and age, pretty much globally, know when they're being marketed to. That's why we're adopting new ways to market this sponsorship. For example, on ESPN Star you'll get branded fact boxes about the tournament, and more bumpers."

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So far, so good, but alcohol and driving could make for uneasy bedfellows. Anderson rejects the notion. "There's no conflict at all. The world of F1 demands control. If you're driving something with 800 horsepower, which can go from nought to 100 in six seconds, you have to be in control. What we're doing with our marketing is bringing this control to the forefront of everything we do."

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An emerging, if unintended, result of this focus on F1 in China is the growth of Johnnie Walker's female market. In China, for example, 20 per cent of all whisky sales are attributed to women. "Look at the female reaction to stars like Pablo and Frankie," he says. "And one of our labels in particular, Gold, appeals to women because one of the best ways to drink it is ice cold — with a piece of chocolate."

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Anderson says the brand respects the female segment, but is quick to reiterate that the core target remains predominantly male -  in keeping with its iconic 'Keep walking' positioning.

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This reveals a central dilemma for Johnnie Walker: the need to effectively make its traditional positioning relevant to a new generation of consumers in a bewildering array of global markets. For Anderson, the trick is as much about balancing traditional and new media, as it is about global and local marketing. In this regard, he credits his eight-year stretch as European marketing director at Kimberly-Clark. "It helped me understand how to respect local insight and drive them through to global solutions," says Anderson. "(It also) helped me understand how local markets work."