Richard Watling – Segmentation
Formerly Scotch Whisky Director – Diageo Global Marketing
With part of his career developed in marketing and working in global roles, Richard knows about consumer segmentation as much as pricing.
In this presentation, he explains the importance of understanding consumers’ behaviour, demographics, social-economic groupings and motivations and identifies the type of occasions when they decide to enjoy a drink.
Markets are very diverse and are continually evolving so it is important to understand that a product or brand will not appeal to everyone. It is important to identify the more profitable segments and create a brand to appeal to these customers. Richard mentions also the importance of marketing and sales cost in the brand value chain and he puts special attention to the values set shared by the consumer and the brand in the drinking occasion. The bigger the overlap of these values, the bigger the connection.
Richard offers excellent examples of brands and product positioning. A clear differentiation in the market provides a frame of reference for consumers against other brands. When combined with a clear consumer segmentation and occasions identification, the brand is developed for market activation.
He runs through the different spirits categories and provides examples of brand segmentation and brand architecture. He highlights the importance of creating a unique imagery to try to satisfy the individual needs of the five billion potential adult consumers of spirits worldwide.
There is a kind of alchemy that goes on in the way that spirit products are transformed to command high prices in the markets, partly through rarity, age or status. The process of producing a particular spirit is the same all over the world. It requires the same few simple ingredients, but to be successfully commercialised, this product needs to be placed in a particular segment of the market. This can be achieved by understanding the geographies, cultures, trends, market evolution, customers’ needs, occasions and prices to attract their audience and create a unique brand around the product.
He will also provide a checklist of criteria for segmenting categories and explains how brands like Johnnie Walker and Absolut Vodka found their place in the market.
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