Click through to the good bits.

00:00 Introductions.

03:33 Brand Image.

04:34 Identity Crisis.

10:47 Change the Narrative of Marketing Message.

14:40 Keep Walking Campaign.

17:15 Lessons from the case study.

Martin Henley
Hello there, my name is Martin Henley. This is the effective marketing content extravaganza. And if you’re new around here, you will know that I am on a mission to give you everything you need to be successful in your business. Providing, of course, what you need to be successful in your business is to know more about and to be more enthusiastically implementing sales and marketing in your business, which is, of course, what you need if you’re going to be more successful in your business.

Martin Henley
What goes on here is I bring you the What The series, I am busting marketing jargon. Melanie farmer is here every two weeks, we look at the Marketing News and how it might impact your lives. I bring in anyone I can find with experience to share that will help you to be more successful with your business as part of the Talk Marketing series and I’m reacting to the very best and the very worst of marketing content on the internet, which is what today is about. Today is Reaction Time. So there is a little bit of Jeopardy here. What goes on is that Clay has lined us up with six potential videos, I’ve got no idea what those videos are, we select them randomly at random.org by rolling the dice, and if we roll the dice, we will get number five. So what happens then is we go to Milanotes, and we go to number five, and we copy that. Then what happens is we go to the World Wide Web, we put that into the search bar and that takes us to

Martin Henley
Okay, sorry, I know what it is already. I don’t really know what it is. But you will know what it is very shortly because we are going to. It is how did Johnnie Walker keep walking for more than 200 years marketing case study. Oh, and it’s these guys that think score really liked these guys. Okay, super cool. So how did Johnnie Walker keep walking from one to 100 years marketing case study. Now we have a little bit of previous here. Because it seems like we’re doing all the zero value. What are we doing? We did smoking, we did Coca Cola. So we kind of got a little bit previous here. I think we’re only on number 10 of days.

Martin Henley
We’ve done like three brands that don’t deliver, what do I want to say I don’t want to get sued. I want to say that it’s not obvious the benefit that they’re delivering in terms of cigarettes and Coca Cola. I think Johnnie Walker, I think customers or Johnnie Walker would say that this is a great product that delivers real value. I’m sure there are lots of people who enjoy a finger or two of Johnnie Walker at the end of the day, and really like it and would say that it benefits their lives. I wouldn’t argue with those people. I think that’s okay. But it’s interesting because we’re talking about sustainability. How did Johnnie Walker keep walking for more than 200 years. Let’s see what they have to say these guys are thinks gold geniuses love these guys.

Narrator
And perhaps the most difficult aspect of marketing. It takes years to build a brand image cost you a million, sometimes even a billion dollars. And if not done right, it could even kill a century old brand. And especially when it comes to the spirit business brand image is so crucial that it can literally make or break your business. However, Johnnie Walker is one of those brands that has practically mastered the art of brand communication, and the legacy of Johnnie Walker has continued for 200 years. And this legacy makes Johnnie Walker a marketing masterpiece to learn from what started out as an obsession for consistent tasting whiskey by a grocery boy then went on to become a business empire that has spanned for four generations and scaled across 180 countries.

Narrator
But after one to two years of being the most popular whiskey brand in the world. By the end of the 20th century, Johnnie Walker faced one of the most difficult challenges faced by every age old brand, and that is identity crisis. But the way they reacted to this crisis taught the world an incredible lesson in marketing. This is a story that dates back to 1999 Wherein within a span of just three years, Johnnie Walker saw a disastrous decline in sales by 14%. And when the board actually dug in to find out what exactly was wrong, they discovered that Johnnie Walker had 27 campaigns running all across The world, each of these campaigns had a different message, and the brand really had no substantial image of itself. Apart from this, the mega trend in the 1980s and 90s was inclining towards wine and vodka.

Narrator
And the popularity of whiskey as a drink fell drastically among the American consumers. And this mega trend led to a 20% decline in whiskey sales volume. This is when the parent company of Johnnie Walker Dr. Gu stepped in. And they brought together an amazing team of marketers, just so that they can understand how can they revive the brand and build a brand image that can stand tall in the modern age. And guess what? The campaign that they designed turned out to be so magical that within the next 15 years, it turned Johnnie Walker into a $2.2 billion brand. And not just that, the slogans of Johnnie Walker became so popular that they became a part of the pro democracy protest. The question is what was so amazing about this campaign? And how did a whiskey tagline go on to inspire a protest slogan?

Martin Henley
Okay, so this is interesting, because you always just think I always just think this brand has been around forever. There is an issue with localization, where brands have to invest invest locally, to reach local markets, like the idea that they might have had 27 different campaigns running. Like, for me, brand is all about consistency. So you have to be consistent across all of those campaigns, or else you will end up suffering. And I was around in the 80s and 90s. And I mean, I don’t know, because I’m not in the industry. But I do remember things changing, you know, we used to go to a wine bar, we only ever went to pubs before. So, yeah, it’s interesting like that. I’m interested. I’m excited to know what this campaign was.

Narrator
The answer to this question lies in the super intense market research done by Johnnie Walker marketers, and after doing a DD,

Martin Henley
this is the key know your market really, really, really, really know your market and your customers.

Narrator
So when they realised that there were three major problems with the brand, number one, Whiskey was being viewed as an old man’s drink, because of which the youth did not connect with any whiskey brand in general. Secondly, all across the world, since they had 27, campaigns running parallely, each one of them had a different message, because I’m not

Martin Henley
sure that parallely is a word, which

Narrator
no one had any clear idea about what exactly is the brand persona of Johnnie Walker, for example, everybody knows that Nike is all about being bold, and pursuing greatness. Apple is all about being different, and being creative. Tesla is all about the future and going green, but Johnnie Walker did not have anything concrete associated with it. And third, and most importantly, the narrative of the marketing message was just self obsessed. And it almost looked like bragging, it was all about we the Johnnie Walker, the most awarded Scotch in the world, we the Johnnie Walker have an heritage of 150 years, we the Johnnie Walker are a premium brand, and so on and so forth. And this narrative developed a disconnect with the audience. So you know what the market is of Johnnie Walker took three radical steps which redefined Johnnie Walker to the world. Number one, they killed all their campaigns and put together a team that would work specifically on communicating just one core message. And they said, instead of pleasing everybody, let’s just stand by our core values and upgraded to only a limited segment of people who would believe in what we believe. Secondly, they change the

Martin Henley
toxic, right and if it’s going wrong, I mean, that’s kind of brave. But if it’s going wrong, you should stop always. I’ve had this conversation with you know, I have this conversation with I’ve had this conversation a number of times on the on the talk marketing thing. Whereas people make the analogy between like driving a car and driving a business. And they make that analogy,

Narrator 
striding man in searches.

Martin Henley
Well, it’s asking you to stop. The difference is like, if your car’s not working great. What everyone does is slow down, stop, check it out. You know, if your business isn’t running great, what everyone does is put them pedal to the metal, go as fast as they possibly can. Like if we could just do more of this more of this more of this, then it will resolve itself. It’s not true. Like actually, if something’s not working, you’re better off just not doing it just stopping completely. Then you are continuing to do something that’s not working. And this is why this persistence in business thing really annoys me. Like they talk about Kentucky Fried Chicken. And it was the 82nd retailer that agreed to sell Colonel Sanders, Kentucky Fried chicken. Like really, if 80 People said no your chickens not that great, it chickens probably not that great, you know, KFC, whatever you think about KFC, but persisting with something that isn’t serving you, is 100% a bad idea. If you take anything away from this video, take it from me, if it’s hurting you, if it’s making a funny noise, if anything is going wrong in your business, slow down and try work out what it is don’t just throw more and more and more customers time, energy money at it in the hope that it will resolve itself. It never does, you know, 20% of businesses going out of business every year. And I think that’s part of the reason. Let’s go back to think school really like these guys, I’ve not got much to say about this, I’m just really interested to hear what they’re saying.

Narrator
And instead of the old cartoon figure who was full of personality, weight and charm, they decided to rebuild it into something more modern, something more minimalistic, and sleek. This was done just so that it could appeal to a younger audience. And last, and most importantly, the most crucial step that it took was to change the narrative of the marketing message. That is, instead of talking about themselves, they said, let’s talk about you the customers. Instead of coming out with their own ideas and assumptions about masculinity. They directly went and spoke to their ideal customers, that is men of the age of 25 to 35. Now, this was a huge survey that was conducted all across the world, just so that they could understand what is their audience idea of success. And this gave them a golden insight. Why most brands assume that men are lured by materialistic success, like having a fancy car or a rich lifestyle. The marketers of Johnnie Walker discovered that more than the external success, it was the inner sense of progress, the inner confidence that the our customers valued the most. And the fact that to a man, Whiskey was an embodiment of his own personality. And they always want to hold on to something that represented what they truly believed in. And all of this boiled down to one key marketing message and that is to keep walking in spite of the obstacles.

Martin Henley
You see, ask people, they will tell you 100% will tell you. I mean, this is such genius. I mean, they’re not so obvious, but also genius. Because I mean, the the obvious is, ask people what they want to buy, you know, and the thing is, I think most often, the thing that people want to buy so much simpler than the thing you’re trying to sell them. And the reason they’re gonna buy it is so much simpler than the 50 reasons that you’ve come up with, you know, so just talking to people is such an insanely good idea. And then the idea that this is just, it’s like people associate like people are defined by their brands, you know, they’re defined by the computers they use by the phones they use by the cars they use by where they buy their underpants, you know, it makes up a big part of people’s personality. And I know people who love whiskey, I know people who will have 20 bottles of whiskey and will delight in bringing all 20 bottles of whiskey to a party, and having us all tasted different types and establishing your own prices, preferences. So there is like this culture of taste. But if you’ve established that your brand’s makes up a part of your or the brand of whiskey that you drink is a part of your personality, that you get in the habit every day of having one or two fingers of Johnnie Walker, as opposed to Jack Daniels or Jamison’s or whatever the other brands are. That’s genius, people are going to keep coming back. And what did they do, they didn’t have to change their product, they didn’t have to change the mechanisms of marketing. They just did their targeting, like if you’re targeting old men, or if your market is old men, your markets dying, like literally your market is dying. So shift the focus to another market that is much healthier, and not likely to die. Ask them what it is that they want. Just ask them and they will tell you, they will tell you and then give them be the thing that they want to buy. And the beauty of this obviously is that it came into the walking narrative. When was this was this around the time of Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom, like it’s all about the journey, you know, all of these things kind of work. But keep walking and you’ll find success. Love that. Absolutely love that love. Thanks, God brilliant of this.

Narrator
And that is what leads in German inspired the iconic keep walking campaign. And this campaign did not speak a word about whiskey. Instead, it spoke obsessively about the customers. Instead of saying we are the most awarded scotch, we have a heritage of 100 years. Their marketing message said If you have the spirit to deal with the obstacles of your life, if you believe in achieving greatness in spite of the pitfalls, if you believe in becoming a better version of yourself every single day, let us be your companion to keep you walking. Johnnie Walker, keep walking. And they featured the stories of great individuals like Lincoln’s quote in the print magazine, to debit the fact that Lincoln kept walking in spite of all the obstacles in life, only to become a legendary president. In media. They feature the great footballer Roberto baju, wherein he overcame his nightmare of missing the penalty at the 1994 World Cup final. And guess what, soon enough the campaign was on fire. Within the next few years, Johnnie Walker went from having a sales decline to seeing a tremendous sales increase by almost 100% in the next 15 years, wherein they sold 19,000,009 litre cases as compared to just about 10 million in 1999. This is how it plays in German, Johnnie Walker established the biggest scene advertising. And since then, they have constantly brought along new derivatives of their key walking campaign. And these campaigns range all the way from topical to historic events, just so that they could keep striking a chord with the audience. And one of the key walking campaigns held in Brazil in 2011, had become such a symbol of perseverance and determination that when the Brazil protests erupted in 2013, people turn the key walking slogan into keep fighting and helping the slogan to stay that determination to achieve change. And apart from the work image, Johnnie Walker is now so keen.

Martin Henley
I’m not sure about that. It’s only two words. Like is that actually proof that they got that idea keep fighting from Johnnie Walker’s keep walking. I don’t know about that. It seems a bit tenuous to me

Narrator
on catching up with the New Age marketing strategies, that they’re all the first spirit brands to experiment with social media and influencer marketing strategies. And this move speaks volumes about how much they have learned as a brand from their own mistakes. Now, there are three very important lessons that we need to take out of this Johnnie Walker case study. Number one, perceived value is underrated. If you take a step back, you will realise

Martin Henley
100% is all about the customer’s perception. If the if the customer perceives they’re getting value, they’re getting value, it’s as simple as that. And we are never going to understand that the value as suppliers, as brands is whatever, because we don’t need it. We’ve got it already. So we’re never gonna get that. So perceived value 100% Is all of the value like your customers opinion on your products, is the only opinion that counts.

Narrator
Then I did not speak a word about how Johnnie Walker was trying to make their whiskey more tastier or smoother. The entire turnaround was brought along not because Johnnie Walker tasted better. Because it’s still the exact same whiskey served in the exact same bottle that was sold 100 years back, the only thing that changed was the story of the brand that turned its tables around, eventually made a billion dollars. Lesson number two, no brand is too big to falter, you might have a 200 year old legacy you might be spread across 180 countries. But if you do not pay attention to the fundamental truths of consumer perception, it is only a matter of time that you would go from an icon to being a forgotten icon. Unfortunately, old mark is a standing example of the same. And last,

Martin Henley
I’ve never heard of all months. So I don’t know about that. But it’s true. Like most importantly, actually, let me stop that. I think actually, the big challenge for big brands is to you know, the the example we all say if we’re if we’re from the UK is Ratner’s, you know, once you’ve built this one big thing, then the danger is you’ve just built a big target, you know, and you can fragment it and the whole thing just shatters. So yeah, I think the mission of brands is how do they keep their brands fresh, and this is why the brands spend so much on brand marketing. And this is why small businesses should spend much more on brand marketing. Because actually, what you really want to do is associate yourself with your customers and, and establish your ongoing value that you add in their lives. That’s why and I think that’s the mission like actually staying relevant is the mission especially if you’re 150 year old, 200 year old brand like Johnnie Walker.

Narrator 
every marketer needs to understand that every consumer knowingly or unknowingly looks for a product that is an embodiment of his or her own personality.

Martin Henley
100% and

Narrator 
the job of the marketer is not to tell the story. Do you have the brand, but to tell the story of the consumer himself 100% Because at the end of the day, the perception of the brand is nothing but the reflection of the customer’s personality. And hence the narrative must always be about the customer and not about the company. This is how Lee’s in German Johnnie Walker toured the world and incredible marketing lesson on how to build a timeless brand. That’s all from my side for today, guys, if you learn something valuable, please hit the like button in order to let the YouTube algorithm know that you learned something valuable. And for more such insightful business case studies, please subscribe to our channel. Thank you so much for watching. I will see you on Friday. Bye bye.

Martin Henley
Okay, 100% I think the thing that I’ve learned is like, I didn’t know that Johnnie Walker was a scotch, I thought Johnnie Walker was a bourbon and an American. So let me just check that is Johnnie Walker, a scotch. Johnnie Walker is a brand of scotch winsky now owned by the ACA. Okay, so that’s cool. I’m glad we cleared that up mainly, in my mind. What do I think? I think it’s true. You know, make your customer the hero of your story of your narrative do that. It’s so much easier. Like so many businesses are trying to project their idea of the value that they offer and they’ve got no clue. How could they like if you’re in business, you’re essentially in the business of resolving issues that your customers have. And if you have those issues, you can’t resolve them for your customers, you must know you don’t suffer from those issues. So this is really really important really, really valuable. I think these things called people do a fantastic job of this. We should check what people are saying in the comments because this is always interesting. So people are saying things like disclaimer all this is only an educational video in no way promoting or supporting the consumption of alcohol. Well said channel is growing like hell and yeah, probably one day I will be telling the brand success of Thanksgiving in the Master Mind ganache. Prasad. That’s his name. The case study is really well researched and presented in an effective manner just like all the other case studies every time I watch a new video on the channel, I feel learned motivated and inspired keep doing the good work and yes determine how iconic How ironic or whiskey brand tagline is keep walking when people are drinking. It struggled to do so. Yes. Raghav okay, it’s not really much I’ve been a regular consumer of Johnnie Walker for over two decades and connects so well with it. Ganesh do make a video on old monk rum and its strategy of not marketing it yet becoming an iconic brand PSL monk is my winter love. Hey, thanks cool I love your videos and recommend them to all my colleagues too. Just wanted to say you should also do case studies on billion dollar companies that went bankrupt or something along these lines that will be interesting that will probably turn up on analyst at some point in the future. So interesting how to Johnnie Walker keep walking after they were struggling a little bit. Really good video. Thanks. Go go like and subscribe to thanks school. You don’t have to wait for me to find it on these lists. I think that will support you to be more successful in your business. So if you’ve been here, if you found this interesting or useful, you know that you should be liking sharing, subscribing, commenting, doing all of those good things, you could head across the effective marketing company website. And you could subscribe there and you will get this marketing goodness in your inbox every single day. Thank you so much for being here. And we will look forward to you being here again sometime in the near future. Goodbye.

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