Johnie Walker Consumer Perceptions of the Brand

1. Johnnie Walker
Consumer Perceptions
Group 5

2. Brand History and Market Presence
• Started : 1820
• Scotch Blending : 1865
• A product of Diageo : 1997
• A symbol of Forward Thinking
• Pursuit of excellence
• The Man Who Walked Around
The World
• The smoky Finish : the walker
signature
• Growing it by blending
• 2nd largest brand after Smirnoff

3. Consumer perception
• Sense Seeking behavior: Willing to go
for varied, novel and complex
sensation
• For Consumers who know what
Johnnie Walker is all about
• Sophistication and Upper Class
• Association of Colors of brand with
Authority and sophistication(Black
Label)
• Red Label : Hot, Passionate Exciting
• Green Label: Secure, Natural and
Relaxed

4. Creating Perceptions
• Survey Customers: Knowing the current
perceptions of customers and elevating them
• Touchpoint Analysis: Interactions Between
Customers via Marketing Piece, Used to identify
Gaps
• Develop a Strategy: Defining the perception that
the company wants its customers to have
• Connect: Creating opportunities for engaging
with customers, for achieving positive
perceptions

5. Consumer perception based on
Primary data
• Occasional Drinkers  More conscious about the taste
• Only 10% of them willing to pay above 3000, so Johnnie walker is itself an elite
brand
• Most preferred brand  Black Label , Gives a sense of sophistication
• Regular Drinkers willing to shell out around 1000 to 1500 for a whiskey
• Johnnie Walker is regarded as more of the status symbol by the consumers
• Perceived benefits : Drinking for chilling out
• Perceived Value : classy, Elite, Premium
• A significant no of consumers were affected by the brand image while going for a
choice of brands for consumption
• Consuming Johnnie Walker is more about experience so people want to consume it
in Bar or pub or parties rather than at home
• Price increase is undermined by the brand value
• Most of the times Johnnie Walker is associated with Status

6. Creating Perceptions Contd.
• Creating an overall experience around
the Brand
• Selling Drink Kits along with scotch
Whiskey
• Invitation to Journey of Taste
• Formula One “Inside the circuit”
• Organizing Jet Black Parties
• One Recently held in Delhi
• Sense of Success by showing world
champions Louis Hamilton and
Jenson Button

7. Perceptual Map
Sophistication
Johnnie
Walker
Antiquity
Smirnoff
Chivas Regal Occasional Drinkers, Pub
Goers less price sensitive
Blenders Pride
Regular Drinkers, Social
Price Drinkers, parties
Royal Stag Highly Regular Drinkers,
High Price Sensitive
Royal Challenge
Old Monk
Country Made

8. What contributes to this……
Product attributes
• Taste: enjoyable subtle aroma, Rarity Redefined
• Shape of the bottle: unique shapes of bottle viz.
King George V edition, XR 21
• Packaging: Signifying Dynamism, sophistication
( by back color with gold lining)
• Color: The color of whiskey is mostly visible to
appeal to sensory stimuli. (sensory branding)
In words of the consumer “On tasting you
get a good shot of smoke with a little
astringency and some good warmth in the
mouth. The scotch clings to your tongue
and the peatiness comes out with hints of
bitterness, like bittersweet chocolate”

9. Other contributing Factors
• Maven : People who are actually the users
are the ones who recommend it
• Pricing : premium, High price shapes
consumer perceptions
• Rich History around the brand

10. Managing Consumer Perceptions
Educate Inspire Commercialize
• More than 10,000 plus exclusively trained bartenders across 34 countries
• Localized packaging (few countries)
• Meeting the luxury and International trends for all consumers
• Informing the customers about the various styles and trends of alcohol consumers
• Inspiring people about the different styles and ways of drinking
• Association with F1- A sense of Exclusivity and status symbol

11. Managing perception….
• Chinese story: a cultural insight

12. Elevating Perceived Value
• Coming up with limited edition
• Capturing notion of “total
package”
• Availability
• Association with high profile
events, persons etc.
• Organizing Johnnie Walker
Parties
Limited Edition Total Package • Organizing events as Black
Circuit Lounge with the celebs
in different countries, Johnnie
Walker Jet black Parties etc.
Johnnie Walker Jet Black Parties

13. Perception formation
• Culture: how one grows up and the related social norms, values shapes
one’s attitude
• One stimuli (say color, packaging) not to be interpreted in the same way
across the globe
• Personal/past experience: if experience has been bad, a fresh stimuli not
very likely to reinforce perception positively
• Level of knowledge, interest, and kind of need sought from the product
• Gender, Age
Final Words
If a brand is shaped by everything its owner does, it
is also shaped by everything else associated with
the brand in the minds of its customers.

15. Thank You 