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BRAVE COMMERCE
Suntory’s Brand-First Transformation: John Alvarado On Modernizing Spirits Marketing
00:20:23
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- [00:02]
Acast Announcer
Acast powers the world's best podcasts.
- [00:06]
John Alvarado
Here's a show that we recommend.
- [00:10]
Nikayla Matthews Akome
If you've ever dreamed of quitting your job to take your side hustle full time, listen up. This is Nikayla Matthews Akome, host of side Hustle Pro, a podcast that helps you build and grow from passion project to profitable business. Every week you'll hear from guests just like you who wanted to start a business on the side. If you can't run a side hustle.
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Rachel Tippograph
You can't run a business.
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Nikayla Matthews Akome
They share real tips. And so I started connecting with all these people on LinkedIn and I thought target supplier diversity was having office hours. Real advice.
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Rachel Tippograph
Procrastination is the easiest form of resistance.
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Nikayla Matthews Akome
And the actual strategies they use to turn their side hustle into their main hustle. Getting back in touch with your tangible cash and sitting down and learning to give your money a job like it changes something. Check outside Hustle Pro every week on your favorite podcast app and YouTube.
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John Alvarado
Acast helps creators launch, grow and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com@Centauri Global Spirits. What we've done is we've articulated our vision, we've articulated the plan moving forward in terms of the transformation and the journey that we want to take, but we also recognize that not only is that important, but then also putting in the right scaffolding from a capabilities and an enabler's perspective to give our team members the best chance for success. And included in that has been, you know, the embracing of learning as we go, because we recognize that we're on the onset of what is rapidly changing, a rapidly changing environment. And so in order to be successful, we have to be willing to learn as well as give our folks the freedom to operate.
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Sarah Hofstadter
Welcome to today's episode of Creative Commerce.
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Rachel Tippograph
I'm Rachel Tippograph, the founder and CEO of mcmac.
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Sarah Hofstadter
And I'm Sarah Hofstadter, Chairwoman of Profitero Plus.
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Rachel Tippograph
And this is a show that talks about what's relevant in commerce for the world's biggest Brad, Sarah. For a long time there was this debate between Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Growth Officer. But now a new party has entered, which is Chief Brand Officer. How often are you seeing that title?
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Sarah Hofstadter
I'm seeing that we can deconstruct each one of these. The Chief Marketing Officer, the Chief Growth Officer, the Chief Brand Officer, the Chief Commercial Officer. We've had guests on that were Chief Commercial Marketing Officer. So the construction, I don't know if it's center of gravity, where the power or budget lies. Between brands, sales, marketing, quote unquote digital, there still are chief digital officers and they fill a different void. The C suite is. So if you're talking about being a chief brand officer on one hand, I suppose it could be about the combination of the marketing and strengthening the programs. But then what does that mean to business leaders or does that mean that the brand seems to report into them? I'm not really sure. What are you saying?
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Rachel Tippograph
I'm starting to see chief brand officer pop up, especially in categories like alcohol, which I think with alcohol we know that brand is paramount. It's all about making the consumer realize that story in the bottle. And I also think given the dynamics of the alcohol category, where often it's challenging for them to work Dr. Directly with retail partners because of the three tier system, I think there's another probably reason why we're starting to see that title appear more. So there's a real distinction between brand and sales.
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Sarah Hofstadter
On the one hand, I think you're right. It is interesting that a lot of it is coming up in the beval space largely because they're not susceptible to private label pressure or store brand pressure. Fear is starting to get encroached. But I think for the most part, yes, in Bev Alice, there's a lot of romanticizing of the wallet, if you will, the whole idea. There's a lot of romanticizing about the liquid, if you will, this whole idea of building the strength in brand. But the fact that you're not fighting against a store brand or a private label I think is kind of interesting. One would think that maybe in light of some of the challenges on pricing and making sure that people are still willing to spend money on a brand, that there would be more chief brand officers in categories where there is private label pressure. However, it might be that that is just the accountability of the brand managers in the first place. So the push pull of having a chief brand officer means might be. Does that put less accountability on the brand owners to build their brands? I don't know.
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Rachel Tippograph
It's an interesting dynamic. Sarah and I could continue to theorize, but who better to hear it from than an operator that actually holds this title? So we're going to bring John onto the show who is the US Chief Brand Officer at Suntory Global Spirits. Today we are very excited to have John Alvarado, the US Chief Brand Officer at Suntory Global Spirits, onto the show. Hello, John.
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John Alvarado
Hello. How you doing? Rachel and Sarah, thank you very much for having me on your show today.
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Rachel Tippograph
We're super excited and one of the reasons why we're so excited is we've had quite a few guests onto the show, but very few have had your title. And I'm starting to see your title appear in more and more places. So I'm just curious, like, why Chief Brand Officer versus Chief Marketing Officer or Chief Growth Officer.
- [05:52]
John Alvarado
Yeah, great question. And I'm happy to shed light on why at Suntory we have chosen to move forward with my title as well as the role as being defined as Chief Brands Officer. It starts with our vision, which is Suntory Global Spirits Vision is to become the most admired spirits company in the world. And core to that is building from the current portfolio of iconic brands such as Jim Beam, Maker's Mark Roku, Hibiki Hornitos into even stronger brands that consumers seek out and love. That's what is intended in the title, is to really make sure that we as an organization have brand building at the front and center of everything we do.
- [06:36]
Rachel Tippograph
And that makes a lot of sense for Centauri. I'm just curious if you have a perspective why it's starting to appear in more places. Is something happening in the marketing industry right now that you think this is indicative of?
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John Alvarado
Well, I think as a whole, the role or the title of Chief Brand Officer is being embraced by more organizations. As we know and as we've known, I should say, for quite some time, brands are what consumers seek and that's what they look to purchase as well as to have experiences with. And so I am a big advocate of building brands that consumers love. And, you know, as marketers, it's our role to do what we can to provide fresh and meaningful experiences that will win the hearts and minds of consumers. And so I believe other organizations just have been operating with some of this in mind, but now are being more intentional in putting brands at the forefront of everything they do.
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Sarah Hofstadter
It's so interesting. In light of so much financial pressure on consumers, a lot of brands have taken the approach of trying to go more on value and almost like cheapening their brand and de emphasizing brand. And you guys are doubling down, which I think is super smart, especially in the spirits business and especially given the premiumization of so many of your brands. How do you think about that in the context of what needs to be true for Suntory overall, for us, we're.
- [08:01]
John Alvarado
Very much highly consumer centric in everything that we do as an organization. And we are seeing the same things you just mentioned, Sarah, in terms of the pressures that consumers are feeling as well, from an economic standpoint as well as just the uncertainty that they are facing. But we also know that based on what we're seeing in our brand of building efforts, that consumers continue to seek brands that deliver experiences and that meet their needs. And so there's different ways that we have been able to do that. Jim Beam, Maker's Mark, some of our Japanese portfolio as well as our tequilas, in terms of creating value through meaningful and fresh experiences, as well as, you know, bringing people together to celebrate the billions of life which we're seeing. More and more is needed by consumers.
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Rachel Tippograph
It sounds like Suntory, despite everything that's happening in the industry, is going through its own transformation with putting the consumer at the center and focusing on investing in brands. Everything starts with people. So as you take your team on this journey, one would love to hear about this transformation. But two, where do you feel you've had to invest from a people and talent standpoint to really get the organization to where it needs to be?
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John Alvarado
Yeah. Ed Suntory Global Spirits we are on a transformation journey overall again starting with the vision that I explained earlier which is to become the most premium spirits admired company. We recognize that we have to change certain aspects of our overall enterprise. And for me personally as the US Chief Brands Officer, I'm in the progress of transforming our marketing to be more consumer centric as well as be more digital forward. And it's not just to keep pace with the change, but to proactively meet the needs of today's consumers and offer them experiences they have not had with our brands in the past. And some of those changes are, as the day to day goes is what we're doing is we've evolved what we ask of our brand marketers and that is to become digital generalists, which means becoming fluent and well versed in terms of the different channels, platforms and using data to help drive decision making. And we've transformed our media team into a consumer connections team focused on full funnel omnichannel planning execution that reflects how people actually live and shop and engage with brands in real life. As we like to say, what we've done to help our team members make that journey and evolve is we've invested significantly in upskilling them through comprehensive training programs in topics such as data analytics, emerging digital platforms, omnichannel strategy. And we've also realized we have to also put scaffolding in place such as making sure our culture enables them to bring forward bold thinking innovation as well as being in a always learning mindset. And that is by creating a fail forward culture. And that's Something that we at Suntory Global Spirits have been embracing in everything that we do, which is we encourage our people to be well informed, take some actions, and then learn from those actions what's worked as well as what is not, so that we can continuously get better and stronger at marketing our brands to consumers. Omnisend automates all the busy work for you. It can capture customers who abandon their shopping carts, recommend other products based on their purchases, wish them a happy birthday with a personalized offer, or instantly notify them as soon as your best sellers are back in stock. Start free with omnisend today and keep growing effortlessly. Sale after sale.
- [11:51]
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John Alvarado
AI.
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Rachel Tippograph
Is there a fail forward story that maybe even one of your own that you could share?
- [12:29]
John Alvarado
It's a great question, Rachel. Last year, one of the things that we are blessed with is we have a portfolio of amazing iconic brands with strong heritage, such as Jim Beam and in the case of Jim Beam, last year we initiated a digital acceleration effort to help to move with agility as well as provide content that was meaningful to consumers. And then through that we learned along the way some of the things that worked and didn't work and that just made us get stronger and better. And then we applied those learnings. So that happened at the first half of 2024 through the summers when we got the learnings and we identified what was really actionable and meaningful for consumers. And so for our next cultural moment that we decided to capitalize on was the NFL kickoff, which if you recall, we had the Kansas City Chiefs, of which were a sponsor, coming off their super bowl win against the Baltimore Ravens. And we knew it'd be a big game that consumers would come together and celebrate with friends and family. And so we tapped into that by really leaning in from a digital perspective, including through E Commerce, which is something we did not have as strong of a component in the first half of the year. And so through that we Doubled down on E commerce as well as across the lower parts of the consumer funnel. And what we saw was outstanding results in terms of strong purchases on third party platforms up almost double digits. So that was one example that we most recently applied to capitalizing on the strength of Jim Beam, but modernizing experiences for consumers.
- [14:02]
Sarah Hofstadter
That's a great example. One of the things that I talk a lot about is the difference between playing catch and dodgeball. When you're trying to upskill an organization, particularly about digital, sometimes there are people like yourself who are in a senior position and you say this is really important and we're going to upskill and cross train you and everything's going to be Omni or digital, blah, blah, blah. And then you throw the ball at the commercial team, or you throw the ball at the marketing team, you throw the ball at the brand team and they cower in fear and they're like, no, don't hurt me. And it sounds like what you've been able to do within Suntory is not just inspire behavioral mindset, but actual real change in pretty much all that you're doing. A lot of people check the box on upskilling and cross skilling. How do you get them to play catch? Is there an alignment of incentives? Does success just breed success? Is it just because John said so? Like, what is it?
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John Alvarado
Well, I hope it's definitely not that that John said so, and therefore we do, because that may not always lead us into the right areas and the right success. But Sarah, that's a great question. At Suntory Global Spirits, what we've done is we've articulated our vision, we've articulated the plan moving forward in terms of the transformation and the journey that we want to take. But we also recognize that not only is that important, but then also putting in the right scaffolding from a capabilities and an enabler's perspective to give our team members the best chance for success. And included in that has been, you know, the embracing of learning as we go because we recognize that we're on the onset of what is rapidly changing or rapidly changing environment. And so in order to be successful, we have to be willing to learn as well as give our folks the freedom to operate. So early on we were really happy with the changes that we've made, the mindset and the behavior that has been embraced not only by the marketing organization, but other members of our organization. To your metaphor of playing catch, what we have seen is that through strong collaboration, communication with all of our cross functional partners, that's how we've been able to move in the right direction, fully aligned and it is translating into some early results and some early wins. As we are seeing on Jim Beam brand. We've outperformed the category segment for I think it's almost 20 months now on Maker's Mark. We've seen a strong first half to the year in terms of consumers purchasing the brand as well as other brand health metrics. And then we're also seeing great success in terms of new products that we launched. I spoke earlier about how we're very consumer centric on Jim Beam, a brand which has strong heritage. We married what we knew about the brand, but also what we knew about our target consumers, which is they were looking for a flavor or an experience that provided an escape to what's going on in their daily lives. And so through that we launched Jim Beam Pineapple, which was a big bet for us as an organization that from a flavor profile perspective, very tropical, from the aroma to the actual liquid, you can get a sense of being on vacation or in the case right now, enjoying summer with a wonderful refreshed Jim Bean pineapple product with lemon lime soda. That's the first new flavor we've launched in four years, which speaks to the intention behind that innovation launch. And then what's made it successful is not only having the consumer insights and bringing that to life with a new product, but then having a full organizational alignment in terms of this is a big bet. This is why it's a big bet. And then executing with excellence from a marketing and sales perspective.
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Rachel Tippograph
So it took four years, maybe more, to bring that product to market. I'm just thinking about that timeline against the Gen Z consumer. Four years ago, many of them weren't even of legal drinking age. And so what do you feel is going on right now with the category and all these flavor profiles and, and especially with Gen Z, that seems to really be resonating with that.
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John Alvarado
Yeah, Rachel, that's a great question. And it is mind boggling to the way you just framed it, which is, you know, many of the Gen Z consumers weren't even of legal drinking age until today. But it's an exciting time, I would say. Even though there's a lot of challenges, Gen Z, what we're seeing is they're seeking intentional and experience led brands is what they're gravitating towards and it's translating to occasion driven consumption. So as they navigate their day to day, what we see is they buy not only byproducts, but they look for brands that represent or align with their values as well as what the occasion that they're engaging with friends and family and how they're socializing on a day to day basis. We've also learned that flavor plays a role in based on how they basically have grown up. I mean, as we think about, you know, not just, you know, the spirits industry, but other categories, flavors is basically how one of the key attributes they look for in products in terms of consumption. But we've also seen variety and having choice being something that Gen Z consumers navigate the industry as well. And so how we're building into that is not only launching new products, but providing limited time offerings, whether they be tied to sports franchises that, you know, we are partners with or also providing experiences through, you know, also partners around sports and music, which is ties to how Gen Z socializes with friends as well as how they consume spirits. And so those are some of the things and actions that we have taken. We've also learned that, you know, they are interested in premium spirits as well as also looking for RTDs which are significant growth right now in the industry. And we are happy with our portfolio of RTDs. We have on the rocks, which is a Bart Sander created cocktail, RTD as well as we just recently launched nationally across the U.S. minus 196, which is a vodka seltzer that has a strong presence in Japan and Australia and also has a unique point of difference versus a competitive set in terms of how it's produced, in terms of whole fruit frozen to and dissolves in this liquid that we've captured and put in a can so that consumers can have this wonderful flavorful experience.
- [20:31]
Rachel Tippograph
Well, John, we could pick your brain all day, but we have to ask you our famous last question, which is what's the bravest thing you've ever done?
- [20:39]
John Alvarado
The bravest thing I've most recently done was actually during the early phases of COVID I actually flew to Seattle and brought both of my parents on Amtrak. We took a train from Seattle to Chicago during the height of COVID Parents, being around 80 years old, have health issues and it was a role reversal where I was the parent and they were the kids. Taught me a lot about parent and children relationships, but also just the challenge of keeping adults in line with how to behave essentially during a really challenging time, but also literally a confined compartment on a train for almost 48 hours and it felt a lot longer. And so I would say that was one of the most brave things I've done most recently. Not only was it challenging, but it was also fulfilling because I got to spend time, quality time with them and sure enough was able to keep them healthy throughout not only that time period but throughout the pandemic and so taught me a lot but also it was quite challenging.
- [21:40]
Rachel Tippograph
Feels like a plot of a movie.
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John Alvarado
Yes, yes, I did come home and tell my family, my wife and my kids about it in goring detail. They got a lot of laughs from it as I did and I still laugh about what we did together.
- [21:53]
Rachel Tippograph
Well, a beautiful intergenerational story. We appreciate you sharing and thank you for letting us pick your brain today.
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John Alvarado
Thank you. And thank you Sarah as well.
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Rachel Tippograph
If you like what you heard and you want to keep thinking about how this next generation of consumers, Gen Z is consuming alcohol, go check out a recent episode we did with 818 Tequila's Kathlyn brain. If you like what you heard, write a review. Thanks for listening.
- [22:40]
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- [22:43]
John Alvarado
Here's a show that we recommend.
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James Richardson
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Rachel Tippograph
Unbelievable.
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James Richardson
This.
- [23:28]
John Alvarado
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