How Beam Suntory brought whiskey to women and built a global brand

Beam Suntory, the alcoholic drinks company, has retooled its approach to brand building in various ways.

“Whiskey and Women” was the research project that led to a new positioning for Jim Beam, one of America’s most iconic brands.

“We found that 30% of the growth was coming from women,” reported Rebecca Messina, SVP/global CMO for Beam Suntory, “in a beverage category where no one was talking about women, no one was showing women.

Rebecca Messina, SVP/global CMO, Beam Suntory

“I just felt that we could do better than that,” she told delegates at the Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) 2018 Brand Masters Conference.

The whiskey study supported Messina’s confidence with two key insights:

  • The way women...

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