ASSUMING A NEW IDENTITY

For other brands, collaborations are helping themselves, rather than their consumers, to assume an identity of their choice. Another Pernod Ricard brand, Ballantine’s — the world’s second-bestselling Scotch whisky in fact — has been ramping up its efforts over the past two years to attract a younger, more diverse audience in markets across the world, particularly among the 30-something demographic. Its use of collaboration is helping it assume a younger, hipper identity, more connected to the zeitgeist.

In its first wave of activity in late 2020, it worked with director Oscar Boyson and photographer Sophie Jones, to launch a short film and billboards across 20 global markets. The work featured images of black dancers and kissing female partners with slogans including ‘There’s no wrong way to move’ and ‘There’s no wrong way to feel’. Though clearly reaching out to a new generation, it also aimed to show how founder George Ballantine ‘did things his own way’ when he founded the conventional codes of whisky back in 1827.

However, brand new for 2022, is a collaboration with one of the world’s biggest computer games, Borderlands, to create a limited-edition bottle design. The design features an image of the character Mad Moxxi, a bar owner in the game’s Pandora setting. According to the brand, the character has also been appointed the Chief Galactic Expansion Officer (CGEO) for the brand and has even created a video to promote responsible drinking from her bar. The bottle also allows access to exclusive Borderlands 3 content.

And crucially, the character will also recruit a team of Borderlands fans, who will create content, give out exclusive merchandise and share Moxxi’s own content, to build brand awareness and further fans to the brand. Chivas Brothers’ Global Marketing Director of Ballantine’s, Mathieu Deslandes said: “Our partnership with Borderlands is an exciting first step into the world of gaming and is part of our ambition to open up the Scotch whisky category to new fans and reach new audiences.”

WHAT’S REAL?

It seems the new wave of brand collaborations at their heart, concern notions of identity and belonging. The work of brands, creative design agencies and celebrity and brand partners seem to have the intent of ‘helping’ consumers gain a greater sense of their own, perhaps shifting identity, granting them permission to truly be themselves. Or else, brands are using them to shift their own identity, proving to the consumer sets that they wish to reach, that they’re truly one of them and reflecting them and their interests back in their marketing activity.

Is any of this particularly revolutionary? At its core, the work reflects the kind of marketing activity brands have been using for decades, probably longer. What has shifted and what is different are the increasingly pioneering, contentious, socially important and sometimes subversive social, political and sexual issues brands are willing to put their names to, or the increasingly digital, ‘meta’ methods being employed. Just like in society, the notion of identity is becoming ever more fluid.

Playing it safe and standing on the side-lines is no longer an option to reach younger generations who prize self-expression and standing up for their beliefs and sense of self, in increasingly visible ways. It makes sense then that these campaigns and collabs are melding and working between real world and digital venues, not only expanding their reach, but reaching consumers where they’re at.

The race is on to speak the language of the first true digital natives, Generation Z; at least the ones legally able to drink. According to IBM, 74% of Gen Z-ers spend their free time online, the Global Web Index reports they spend over 8 hours a day online and according to Criteo 32% of Gen Z transactions happen on a mobile device.

However, this is a generation that values authenticity and are savvy to brands jumping on causes or the cool-factor of other brands for ‘clout’, or for their own gain. Authentic roots in, or affiliation with causes or worlds — from gaming to fashion — is a must if they are truly to win them over. Wrong steps could instead alienate them. And crucially, even when it’s for fun, with a link-up with a computer game or celebrity, there better be a tangible benefit, asset, or product that truly meets consumers needs.

HAS IT HAPPENED YET?

Tequila has long been tipped as the next big thing… and in some places it is. But while the category may be riding high in the US, is the UK really ready to embrace it?

First thing’s first… there’s tequila. And then there’s ‘sipping’ tequila. Let it be acknowledged that many markets — including the UK — have long moved past the era of tequila simply being an accompaniment to a high intake of salt and lime and a plethora of bad decisions.

Brands such as the ubiquitously popular Patron have helped transform the landscape of tequila, leading the ‘sipping not shooting’ revolution and helping raise both perceptions and prices in its wake. On behalf of those peer-pressured too many times to take a shot at the bar, we thank you.

Yet, in the same way that rum — or more recently hard seltzers — have been touted as the next big thing, in recent years, so has tequila. Yes, it seems that every trend that blows up in the US is then tipped to wash on to UK shores. And while in the States — a market with a much more immediate geographic and cultural connection to Mexico — the lofty tequila-boom may be true, can that really be said for the UK?

‘STRATOSPHERIC’ INCREASES

Arguably, yes and no. Globally, super-premium (think Patron, but also brands such as Don Julio and Herradura) tequilas have been on a stratospheric rise selling 5.1 million cases in 2020, compared to just 665,000 cases in 2005, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the US (Discus). And in the US, total tequila doubled its sales in the ten years to 2020, to 22.2m cases, with volumes up by 5% in 2021. But in the UK, sales are actually also on the up. More than one and a half million bottles were sold in the 12 months to September 2021, an increase of 36% on 2020, reaching £33m, according to the Wine & Spirit Trade Association (WSTA). Could it be that tequila’s reputation as a drink to celebrate the good (read as: out of lockdown) times, lives on?

BUT THE HEADLINE STATS DON’T STOP THERE

According to CGA, tequila sales in the UK on-trade increased by 106% in the year to February 2022. And though that should be taken with a pinch of salt (lime optional), when accounting for on-trade closures, the overall figures look compelling. On trade sales of premium tequila rose in value from £9.35m to £22.43m, whereas sales of standard rose from £40.22m to £81.47m.

PENT-UP PARTYING

So, why? Well, tequila’s celebratory vibe currently fits with the consumer mood, where pent-up desires for gatherings and celebration are still being acted out, as many are still experiencing their first non-lockdown holiday, birthday, family reunion, etc.

Also, against a backdrop of a shift towards tropical and exotic serves, tequila cocktails such as the Margarita are having a resurgence at home and in bars, both high-end and mainstream. And finally, according to the WSTA, tequila sales are also being driven by the ramping up of the shift in sipping tequila, rather than just mixing it.

“With the public having to find different ways of brightening up their weekends during lockdown periods, we saw a keenness to experiment with new and exciting drinks choices,” WSTA’s CEO, Miles Beale, said.

The fact is that sales are on the up and with that a flurry of brands are now making a play for the UK market. But now that it’s here, will the boom last?