Diageo learns to speak ‘unisex’ as it courts female drinkers

As advertisements go, the line “He works as hard as he plays. And he drinks Johnnie Walker” over an image of two male racquetball players isn’t exactly shy of machismo.

How about: “He loves my mind. And he drinks Johnnie Walker” accompanied by a contradictory close-up of two women’s bikini-clad bottoms? It doesn’t quite ooze female empowerment.

This was how the scotch was marketed in the United States a quarter of a century ago. Since then, the owner of the Johnnie Walker brand, Diageo, has taken a hard look at its portfolio and noticed that the only one to overtly acknowledge and court women as consumers was Bailey’s – aka that creamy stuff shoppers used to stick in their trolleys once a year on a pre-Christmas whim. (Perhaps they still do.)

Diageo has been “on a journey” and on this journey it has “learned to speak unisex”, say Christene McCauley, the drinks giant’s global planning and research director, and Izzy Pugh, cultural strategy director at its WPP-owned brand development agency Added Value.

“Our current focus is to build as many of our brands as possible into unisex cultural icons,” McCauley told the Esomar Congress, a marketing research conference that was doling out lanyards and insights at Convention Centre Dublin this week. Diageo wants to understand women and market to them, McCauley added, “without alienating men”.

How is it going about this risky business of appealing to women without confusing men? A montage of advertisements for half a dozen Diageo brands from Captain Morgan to Gordon’s Gin – but not Guinness – revealed a breezy, glossy tone.

Out went the gritty man-pub, the statement knitwear and the almost spiritual devotion to the serious business of the drink itself, in came flashy parties “where alcohol is not the sole reason for the get-together”.

Instead, for reasons that may be influenced by ever-tightening advertising regulations, alcohol brands pop up almost subliminally amid scenes of gaiety, adventure, high-spirited solidarity and unisex-brand favourite David Beckham.

Time moves on. Beckham’s ad for whisky brand Haig Club was cleared this year after the UK advertising regulator agreed he no longer held particular appeal to under-25s. Another ad for Diageo’s Smirnoff was banned, however, on the grounds that it implied alcohol was key to a fun evening out.

At the heart of the Diageo unisex project is the conclusion that a brand cannot grow to its full potential if it ignores 50 per cent of the population.

And acknowledging this 50 per cent is not simply a matter of turning your product pink. To illustrate the cultural touchpoints behind Diageo's new ads, Pugh cited the Beyoncé's "I'm not Bossy, I'm the Boss" advocation of female leadership (part of Sheryl Sandberg's 2014 campaign to "ban bossy") and Sport England's equally wonderful body-positive This Girl Can campaign, which very proudly drew attention to the fact that when women exercise they sweat.

Future-proofing

Now Diageo markets Smirnoff with the “inclusive” words “We’re Open” and uses lines like “labels are for bottles” and “filter the fake” emblazoned in the strong red of the brand. This, it says, is “future-proofing Smirnoff by making it unisex”.

The new Johnnie Walker campaign “Joy Will Take You Further”, meanwhile, features both male and female achiever- types posing with a sense of defiance, purpose and satisfaction. Diageo’s big idea here is to offer “a new perspective on personal progress” – instead of implying that happiness is the byproduct of success, it “flips it on its head” and suggests “happiness is the key to success”.

Then there’s “the Snapp Sisters” – a trio of African women embracing each other in a bar, each one accessorised with a flute glass of sparkling apple-flavoured alcohol. Snapp, Diageo’s grand plan to give a new generation of “confident, independent” women in Kenya and other countries in Africa an alternative to beer, has been the most successful brand launch in the history of the company.

McCauley notes another cultural shift. When Diageo first began its “unisex” brand project there were no women on the board. Now five of its 11 directors are women. This is as good as it gets. In March, the drinks group was found to have the joint highest board representation among FTSE 100 companies.

So it’s good news for women who fancy a crack at the boardroom, a relief for women who are weary of being patronised by advertisers and maybe not so brilliant for women who would prefer, for the sake of their livers, not to be tempted.