Where does India stand in the order of key global markets for Jack Daniel’s? How have you seen the Indian market evolve and what is your USP here?
India has been identified as one of the strategic emerging markets for Jack Daniel’s as we have seen that consumers are not only upgrading to international spirits but are also looking for newer expressions of whiskey and brands. Millennials are totally clued into the latest trends and brands across the world. With increasing aspirations, disposable incomes and exposure to global brands, they are more open to experimenting and trying out newer things and different whiskeys from around the globe.
Jack Daniel’s as a brand enjoys a pre-eminent status and we have been able to achieve considerable growth over the past few years, making it the number one brand in the premium American whiskey segment in the country. We plan to build on this by continuing to innovate and evolve for Indian consumers.
In 2020, amidst COVID-19 disruptions, Jack Daniel’s launched a new tagline 'Make It Count’, as part of the first rebranding in its 150-year history. How has it worked for the brand so far?
‘Make It Count’ was our first ever global campaign for Jack Daniel’s and the intention behind it was to inject new energy into the brand with the introduction of a new brand communication platform. ‘Make It Count’ showcases a new way of thinking for the brand that celebrates the people who consume it. The core idea is to continue to reach out to existing consumers, and converse with newer audiences as well.
How did Jack Daniel’s perform in India in the last financial year? Have you been able to surmount COVID losses?
The premium spirits segment has emerged stronger as a category and Jack Daniel’s has strongly bounced back to grow beyond pre-COVID levels. We adapted with agility to the changing consumption preferences driven by COVID-induced restrictions. We renewed our strategy to focus on the in-home consumption trends and enhanced our portfolio to cater to the consumer needs of convenience and cocktails with newer innovations such as Ready-to-Drink (RTD), with Jack Daniel’s and cola, and flavoured whiskey, with Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Apple.
Jack Daniel’s has taken a long-term perspective of marketing in India with the 2025 strategy. How is it being rolled out?
We do recognizse the potential and the opportunity that India presents for the premium segment and continue to drive our efforts towards leveraging this opportunity. We continue to invest in driving distribution to improve accessibility as well as increase brand awareness among consumers as we believe that there is tremendous potential for sustainable long-term growth.
What are your growth plans and strategies to cater to Indian consumers, especially recruiting a new set of audiences for the brand and expanding the product portfolio?
At Brown-Forman, we have taken a few steps that have helped maintain or sustain our momentum. For instance, our foray into the RTD segment has enabled a lot of new consumers to try our products at an affordable price point and then upgrade to our full-strength products. One of the priorities for Brown-Forman India is to make premium quality spirit offerings more accessible and enable a larger percentage of the legal drinking age consumers to experience the great taste of our American Whiskey portfolio.
We have made some significant launches in the recent past with the RTD offering - Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Apple and our JD official merchandise – all of which have seen some very encouraging responses from the trade and consumers. We continue to evaluate innovation opportunities in RTDs, flavoured whiskeys as well as in the overall premium spirits category and will bring more innovations in future to India to further strengthen our portfolio while offering more choice to consumers.
What are the trends you see with regard to consumers of alcohol in India? Which cohorts are taking the lead in alcohol consumption?
The alcohol industry continued its strong momentum in 2022. This was driven by some very strong consumer and shopper trends which are likely to continue into 2023 and help the category maintain its strong growth momentum.
Premiumization: People are drinking better. This trend was already there pre-COVID, but it accelerated significantly during and post COVID when people started drinking better quality and more premium spirits. This was further supported by tax rationalization in a few States which made premium better-quality products more affordable for people. This is evident in the strong growth of our portfolio of brands including Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey.
Desire to Discover: Consumers are looking to discover new experiences, products, brands and new ways of consuming spirits, thanks to global exposure via travel and social media. This is playing out very strongly in the alcobev industry. Increasing affluence levels in India have also given more people the ability to try new premium brands and experiences. We introduced Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Apple to expand the range of our flavoured whiskey offering and also introduced our pre-mixed RTD brand Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey & Cola. The consumer response received to both these launches has been very positive and above expectations.
Retail Transformation: One of the big trends and enablers helping drive premiumization and discovery is retail transformation. Supported by positive changes in policies and regulations, liquor stores today offer a modern, safe and convenient shopping experience. This has certainly improved accessibility to premium and high-quality brands for shoppers and consumers. Women and families feel more comfortable shopping in these modern liquor stores. Some of these stores offer even superior shopping experiences to duty free or premium liquor stores in other international markets.
In-home consumption: Another trend accelerated by COVID is in-home consumption. There is today more permissibility and ease around serving and consuming alcohol at home. Hence, this is a fundamental shift and is likely to sustain in 2023 and beyond, driving growth in consumption of premium brands.
We as a company are well poised to continue our strong growth momentum in India by leveraging these shopper and consumer trends with the strength of our brands and the versatility of our portfolio.
