If one thing is for certain, change is hard. Much like the way that humans resist change until they absolutely have to, brands do too. Brands face a difficult reality, especially as their personality and the way they are perceived lives in the minds of their consumers. Once a customer’s mind is made up about a brand it is extremely difficult to change it. It normally takes years to change consumer perceptions about a brand, so when it is done in a matter of 18 months it truly is a marketing success story. Here is a little insight how Chivas Regal Scotch Whisky achieved exactly that, whilst transforming its target market and ultimately changing perceptions.
Chivas Regal Scotch Whisky is undoubtedly an iconic brand. Over 2 centuries old, and distilled in the oldest operating Highland distillery in Scotland, it is a premium brand steeped in history and heritage. As a brand that is globally recognized as one of the best premium blended Scotch Whiskies, available in 150 countries, moving more than 4 million cases worldwide annually and selling 1 bottle every second globally; one would naturally assume that the brands international success would easily translate to the South African market. Yet this was not the case.
“Over the past 3 years brand perceptions of the Chivas brand in South Africa had changed,” commented Wayne Merris, Marketing Manager for Chivas Regal South Africa. “Whilst the brand had remained a respected luxury brand, it became a gifting, stature brand, something you only bought as a gift for someone you respected. It was also perceived as a drink for a mature white man. The question became, ‘how do you grow and reposition the brand to resonate with the up-and-coming upper LSM, core, premium Whisky drinker aged 28- 34 years old?’ As a team we realised that people can’t form new perceptions without a new experience, and if you’re going to change brand perceptions, the process begins by changing from within.”
In order to create meaningful change and transform Chivas into a more contemporary brand, Wayne and his team began ‘unpacking’ the brand’s compass. Internationally the brand has always played on “chivalry”, yet when research was done with key focus groups this stance didn’t translate for the local South African market. “We didn’t want to move too far away from the focus on ‘chivalry’, and discovered that focusing on men being ‘gentlemen’ translated well with our key target group, the ‘Black Diamonds’,” remarked Wayne. “The ‘Black Diamonds’ aspire to the Chivas way of living, now we needed to position the brand correctly in their environment.”
The brand team began changing the focus of Chivas to translate into “what it takes to succeed as a gentleman.” With this brand stance or crusade if you wish, they were able to translate the brand’s personality through engagement with the target market.
“Consumer’s perceptions only change through a changed experience. We began creating a community of likeminded gentlemen through hosting leadership workshops, where our aim was on building future leaders,” comments Wayne. “The Leadership Forums not only helped to rejuvenate the brand, generate trials through Whisky tastings but it is helping to rejuvenate the ideals of being a gentleman through imparting tangible advice on how to achieve success in moral way.”
This is just one way that Chivas began creating the Chivas Brotherhood, a community of likeminded individuals who live the brand’s new USP and position of ‘we have arrived’. “With each new activation we introduced, we began focusing on building our fan page on social media networks, specifically Facebook,” remarked Wayne. “Syndicated editorial is written for the brand, which is focused on leadership, target reviews, stock reviews and business advice. To date we have grown the following on Facebook to 14 000 unique followers, which grows by approximately 100 new followers a day. I believe that the success is due to the fact that we are providing credible and relevant content that is appealing to our market.”
The content is very personalised and interactive, with personalised birthday messages which include a feel good story relating to leadership to the gentleman’s age, to links to the Chivas Top 12 on Supersport, leadership chirps of the week, interview articles with leaders and even HABO. “HABO, or ‘help a brother out’ is a forum we have on the Facebook page providing career advice and information. Not only is it a networking opportunity, it allows gentlemen to gain advice from an expert panel. For us it is all about inter-community engagement.”
Often iconic heritage brands that have abundant awareness but little relevance with a new generation of consumers are very difficult to change. Chivas Regal has proved that it is possible, in a period of 18 months, even in an environment where alcoholic products need to adhere to strict protocols surrounding their promotion and advertising. Not only are they building future leaders, they are leaders in their own right, having an 182% increase last fiscal, becoming the fastest growing premium blend Whisky in South Africa.
For more about the Chivas Brotherhood visit: http://www.facebook.com/#!/ChivasRegalSA
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