global wines & spirits group · China
bringing a nightlife spirit to the dinner table
Meals already drove most of the business, but the brand was losing the table to baijiu. We replaced scattered initiatives with one platform built around three dining moments, each with its own audience, product and way to drink.
meals already drive most of the business, so why doesn’t anyone think of this spirit when they sit down to eat, and what would it take to change that?
the question we were asked
how do we make our meal activity work harder?
context
in china, almost every drinking occasion involves food. meals already accounted for more than half of the brand’s china volume. yet years of activity (gourmet events, trade dinners, seasonal e-commerce pushes) had built sales spikes, not a habit.
what we found
the meal business was almost entirely bought in stores and drunk at home. restaurants, where drinking habits are formed, were a tiny and shrinking share.
baijiu was gaining ground as the drink people associate with meals, while imported spirits, this one included, were losing it.
consumers saw the spirit as a nightclub drink for an older generation of businessmen. they didn’t know how to drink it with food, rarely saw it on menus, and found it too strong for many at the table.
past initiatives were one-offs, aimed at the trade, or different in every region. none built a lasting link between the spirit and the meal.
food habits change slowly and start outside the home. coffee in china showed the pattern: experienced in public first, then adopted at home.
what we advised against
one-off pr events · trade-only dinners · food-pairing promotions without an emotional story · a different message in every region · relying on the masterbrand alone
what we designed
one consumer platform around savouring the moment, replacing scattered initiatives. three meal moments, each with its own audience, product tier, role and way to drink: · casual street dining: recruit younger and female drinkers in the brand’s core region with a signature cocktail made for street food. · fine dining: reach aspiring connoisseurs nationwide with a neat serve inspired by the local toasting ritual. · festive reunion: connect with the global chinese community at new year and mid-autumn, where the brand stands for coming home. restaurants first, to build the habit before taking it home. clear owners across content, media, trade, e-commerce and crm, measured on outlets, meal association and recruitment.
how we built the view
sales and channel data · brand health tracking across key cities · consumer interviews · review of three years of meal initiatives · competitor benchmark
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