Posted on : 2023-12-17 20:00:33
Article : Good Morning Monday Management solution for TASK 272- Brand innovations in pipe line are real strength to test, learn and iterate any company’s marketing potential planning.
As a solution to the new brand innovations and launches- Diageo’s marketing Director’s deliberations offer a needed suggestive path to many brand marketers on new product launches. His view is based on Recruit-, re-recruit and disrupt market model for existing brands for better market sustenance and future brands ad and promotion spend. Adoption of this model is worth for marketers to strengthen their brands in market place.
Diageo is a market leader with its spirits - Johny walker, Smirnoff, J&B, Ciroc, Baileys to mention few. They have lots of innovations in pipe line but the new marketing director had a different view about new launches. He expresses that presently they are flowing out fewer innovations compared to Three to Four years back- as their strength in pipe line are delivering what they expect from the market and allows them to be more choiceful. While new product launches may have slowed, Diageo is ramping up marketing spend to ensure that it makes the most of innovations it already has in the market. Scaling its ad spend while slowing launches is part of a three-pronged consumer-centric strategy that aims to hone innovation around “recruit, re-recruit and disruption”.
Diageo’s marketing head explained that recruit is at the center of Diageo’s innovation plans, with more than half of its new products focused on attracting new consumers which is a major shift from a couple of years ago. There is no point having a new product launch which could only bring very few new consumers instead of doing things on growth factor that really matters. When series of new products are planned for launch, they could be fewer but they are expected to make a big difference with expected higher ambition of market volumes.
The second area of re-recruiting aims to engage existing drinkers to ensure loyalty. Its purpose is to create excitement around existing brand fans, for example- with new products like Baileys Strawberry and Cream. This limited-edition drink is available in the UK and Europe to coincide with the summer and offer the opportunity for Bailey’s drinkers to enjoy the brand on more occasions.
The last branch of the strategy is disruption, which aims to focus on longer-term trends. It’s about being more experimental – test, learn and iterate as Diageo is looking at the longer-term opportunities than next quarter or next year sale volume helpers. One of things Diageo are trying to do with disruption mean choosing to focus on products that can have a sizeable impact, rather than smaller trends but doing it in a much more thoughtful, patient way.
When companies think about a recruit-driven pipeline it is very advertising and promotion (A&P) intensive, so one need to be very thoughtful about how much A&P spend is being put into the business and future business and balancing that.
Endpoint- In progressive evolving of businesses and markets innovations, new brand launches are needed. Companies should precisely view on its brands market sustenance rather than frequent launches of more new brands which may not be effective in long term scale up. Diageo’s Marketing Director is clear that marketing needs to be the heart of all innovation while innovation is solving issues that great marketing and commercial executions cannot.
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