Developing Brand Positioning Strategy for Canadian Club Whiskey

Developing branding strategy for Canadian Club A. Assess and fully critique the success of Canadian Club’s repositioning strategies used in the case. Use brand theories and concepts to evaluate the company’s branding strategies listed in the case. According to Keller(1993) the effective brand positioning gives a brand a competitive advantage or “unique selling proposition” that determines a reason why consumers are buying this product or service (Keller, 1993).

Similarly, Kay (2004) argues that a brand’s strength depends on its successful positioning within consumers’ minds. Furthermore, it is claimed that strong brands should possess “difference” and “consistency”, however, the difference should be meaningful for consumers. In the case of Canadian Club whisky it aimed to differentiate its quality and uniqueness through exciting advertising campaigns such as “Adventure Series”, “Hide A Case”, “CC Find-A-Case Challenge” or “Damn Right Your Dad Drank It”. Also, Keller (1993) claims that brand knowledge consists of brand awareness and perceived brand image among consumers.

Brand image is further divided into favourability, strength, and uniqueness of brand associations. Therefore, in the case of Canadian Club a brand image is conveyed through unique and distinctive experiences that consumers associate with a brand. For example, the introduction of the “Adventure Series” advertising campaign in the 1920s aimed to increase CC’s global sales whilst showcasing print ads of travelers going to remote locations all over the world and performing brave actions. After that, they were relaxing with a glass of CC.

Order custom essay Developing Brand Positioning Strategy for Canadian Club Whiskey with free plagiarism report

450+ experts on 30 subjects Starting from 3 hours delivery

Get Essay Help

As a result, a brand’s image is distinctive from the category as it appeals to its target audience as a unique and exclusive drink associated with adventures. Also, it benefits consumers experientially. In addition, Keller (1993) claims that developing brand equity requires four value stages: marketing program investment, customer mind-set, market performance, and shareholder value (Keller, 1993). Furthermore, the marketing program should be clear, relevant, distinctive, and consistent throughout all marketing communications.

For example, CC introduced the “Hide-A-Case” campaign in 1967 which aimed to challenge drinkers to search for bottles of Canadian Club kept hidden at remote locations all over the world. CC cases were hidden in places such as the Swiss Alps (Switzerland), Mt. Kilimanjaro (Tanzania), Angel Falls (Venezuela) etc. Therefore, the campaign was interactive and engaging which is another distinctiveness of the category. Also, the campaign was communicated through the hints of where to find CC cases published in magazine ads or sports pages in daily newspapers.

Therefore, it was relevant for the targeted audience and consistent throughout all the communications. Other campaigns involved “CC Find-A-Case Challenge”(1981) and “Find A Case Challenge”(2004) which were similar to the earlier launched “Hide-A-Case” campaign, however, CC cases were hidden in locations such as in Death Valley in California, on top of a skyscraper in New York City, etc. Also, the campaign involved a form of contest where teams were participating in 7 different fun-filled events or games assessing their physical and mental skills like CC Poker Run, Roll the Barrel, CC Hockey Challenge, etc.

The winning team was awarded US 10000. Hence, all these campaigns were interactive, engaging, and communicating the brand’s uniqueness and exclusivity to the target audience. However, due to failure to address declining sales in the 1990s the company had to develop a new repositioning strategy for a brand. Therefore, they launched the “Damn Right Your Dad Drank It” campaign aiming to expand their target audience into young male drinkers. The campaign was based on the nostalgia branding concept. According to Kay (2006) reviving brands is a viable strategy.

Furthermore, it is claimed that retro branding or nostalgia branding is where perception towards brand depends upon consumers’ nostalgic leanings can be a powerful management option (Kay, 2006). Similarly, Kessous and Roux (2002) argue that nostalgia can be used to reposition a company’s product in the market and differentiate it through creating emotional appeals to the consumers of their past experiences (Kessous, 2002). Therefore, nostalgia is defined as a preference for objects (people, places, or things) that were common when one was younger.

The nostalgia can be further classified into “first-time nostalgia” and “long-standing nostalgia”. However, nostalgia branding is usually used within confectionery or sweets market which is why pursuing this type of strategy for Canadian Club whisky was criticized as being risky. Furthermore, the whisky category itself is viewed as drinks for mature and old consumers and there was a threat to strengthen this image even more whilst using nostalgia branding. However, the campaign succeeded as it was relevant to the target audience (young males) and consistent with its brand image as it provoked masculinity and stylishness.

Also, it was consistent through all the marketing communications such as billboards, point-of-sale items, radio advertising, out-of-home advertising, in-market events, and experiential elements. In addition, it was distinctive to the usual category’s advertising campaigns that usually consisted of stereotyped “sex sells” ads playing on hot chicks and smoking’ bods or “James Bond” appeal. Finally, the brand’s image and values were clearly communicated through the campaign. Therefore, nostalgia branding enabled the company to reposition itself from being an exclusive and sophisticated drink into more of a mass-market product.

Finally, Shamma (2011) claims that total brand equity consists of product and corporate brand equity which depends on the company’s market, social, and financial performance. Furthermore, there is a positive relationship between a company’s corporate brand and socially responsible marketing, and total brand equity (Shamma, 2011). Similarly, Grace and King (2011) talk about employee brand equity, which is the result of positive and productive employee brand-related behavior and is strongly linked with the brand’s strength (Grace and King, 2011).

In contrast, Kay (2004) argues that corporate branding differs from product and service branding as it is aimed at different target audiences. For instance, corporate branding usually targets the company’s shareholders and employees whereas product and service branding is focused on consumers who are not really interested in corporate brand identity (Kay, 2004). However, it is also claimed that some companies, especially those that started as niche businesses that appealed to small segments of socially conscious customers succeeded in creating strong and distinctive corporate brands.

Referring to CC and Jim Beam corporation consumers are not that concerned about the company’s overall image, however, the introduction of corporate social responsibility and socially responsible marketing could enhance employees’ satisfaction and therefore employee brand equity. B. You have assumed the role of, Brand Manager for Canadian Club. Develop a brand positioning plan to strengthen the Canadian Club brand for the next three years (2014-2017). Suggest a variety of branding strategies that are appropriate for the brand’s identity and target market.

Use current research about the brand and the whiskey industry prior to answering this part of the assignment. Use theory to justify your arguments! Canadian Club whiskey belongs to the UK spirits market which was estimated to be worth 11. 09 bn. at current prices in 2011 (Keynote, 2012). The UK spirits and liquors market is expected to grow by 16. 4% reaching a value of 13. 42bn in 2016. Thus, there is an opportunity for the Canadian Club to further increase and strengthen its share of the market. Canadian Club whiskey is a prestigious brand owned by Beam Global Spirits & Wine Corporation which is a US-based company.

It also owns brands such as Jim Beam, Courvoisier and Tequila Sauza. Since the 1920s Canadian Club differentiated itself as a high quality, exclusive whisky offering an experiential experience for its drinkers. Its current target market is those from legal drinking age to 34, however, the company is looking forward to strengthening its appeal among younger consumers in order to capture their lifetime loyalty (Twiss, 2012). Referring to its main competitors the direct competitors are Diageo’s Johnnie Walker scotch whiskey and Jack Daniels's “Tennessee Whiskey”.

Diageo is a leading distiller that currently owns more than 35% of the spirits and liquors market globally and is expanding to emergent markets such as India and Asia (BBC, 2013). It also owns brands such as Smirnoff Vodka and Gordon’s Gin. Furthermore, Scotch whiskey is the leader of the whiskey category in the UK and worldwide and its exports were worth 4. 23bn in 2011 (BBC, 2013). However, there is an increasing trend among younger consumers to choose vodka and other “white” spirits to mix them in their cocktails.

Therefore, in order to sustain and increase its market share, Canadian Club needs to tackle competition arousing not only “dark” spirits but also from “white” spirits such as vodka, rum, gin, etc. Referring to the category’s recent adverts Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky (Diageo) launched a new global advertising campaign in September 2012 entitled “Where Flavour is a King”. The campaign uses Facebook application to educate users about different flavors that make up each Johnnie Walker label (MarketingWeek, 2012).

Meanwhile, Jack Daniels's “Tennessee Whiskey” has recently introduced their “Legend” campaign where it is positioned as a whiskey of “Rock & Roll” era (International Business Times, 2013). On the other hand, Canadian Club recently introduced its “Beer fairies” campaign in Australia featuring unattractive beer drinkers possessing all the negative traits associated with beer drinking. The campaign seeks to position CC as a refreshing alternative through the use of parody and provocative advertising (Campaign Brief, 2012).

Furthermore, it introduced the “Join the Club” campaign where company’s CEO is represented as a brand ambassador and is sharing his “Whiskey wisdoms” with consumers about masculinity and manhood. It is evident that several classic liquor companies have been recently using manly images in order to appeal to the growing macho men population. For instance, John Jameson and its campaign “legend of John Jameson” with images of its founder arm-wrestling or Canadian Wiser’s whiskey and its “Wiserhood” campaign featuring a “society of uncompromising men” who applaud any man who resists an occasion that threatens his manhood (Krashinsky, 2012).

Also, many spirits and liquor companies are incorporating social media when creating a branding strategy in order to target a younger and more affluent audience. For instance, Canadian Club whiskey fans are encouraged to share their “Whiskey Wisdom” on Facebook in order to get access to exclusive content, invitations to local events, and wisdom (Lukovitz, 2012,). Similarly, Smirnoff promoted its Vodka Ice drink through social media whilst encouraging fans to participate in a drinking game and share experiences and photos on the Facebook page.

According to Avery and Fournier (2011), open-source branding is a new concept in marketing where a “brand is embedded in a cultural conversation such that consumers gain an equal, if not greater, say than marketers in what the brand looks like and how it behaves” (Fournier, 2011, pp. 194). It is enabled through social media technologies such as blogging, video sharing, social bookmarking, social networking, and community platforms (Fournier, 2011).

Furthermore, it is evident that engaging with the “right” individuals through social media platforms can help to promote word-of-mouth for a brand, spread brand knowledge, generate sales, and increase return on investment (Kumar, 2012). However, since the marketers do not have so much control over the overall brand’s image in open-source branding social media can also have a negative impact on the brand’s equity.

Therefore, it is claimed that when incorporating social media in their marketing activities companies should take into consideration four powerful and challenging Web-enabled themes: The Age of the Social Collective, The Age of Transparency, The Age of Criticism, and The Age of Parody (Fournier, 2011). Referring to social collectiveness it is evident that online communities provide an opportunity for an in-depth discussion of shared interests among consumers, therefore strengthening group bonds. Also, some of the companies developed their business models based on the social collectiveness concept.

For instance, Groupon offers a variety of daily deals for restaurants, spas, massages, and other activities for its members but offers are valid only if enough people sign up to receive them (Fournier, 2011). The Age of Transparency and The Age of Criticism claim that due to significant technology changes the news and opinions about a particular brand spread very fast and can have a significant impact on brand equity (Fournier, 2011). For instance, due to transparency BP recently experienced a fiasco with its leaking Deepwater Horizon oil rig.

The news had a significant impact on the negative brand’s reputation as BP was pursuing an image of an environmentally-friendly petroleum company and was developing activities to strengthen this image. Similarly, there is a power of disappointed company’s internal employees revealing market’s and firm’s secrets to a wider public that can damage the company’s image. Criticism enabled through social media technologies can also have a great impact on the company’s brand equity even if a small number of consumers are complaining. For instance, when introduced its new product formulation called Dry Max, Pampers had to deal with a negative impact arousing from consumers who claimed that a product caused diaper rash and was not suitable for consumers. Finally, The Age of Parody refers to online users’ view of social media being a pastime or a source of entertainment. Therefore, it is not surprising that many companies are trying to grab consumers’ attention by creating funny and interactive campaigns that go viral. However, the difficulty is to evaluate the impact and reach of these campaigns. Another recent trend in social media applications is mobile marketing and mobile social media.

With increasingly powerful mobile devices, many social media applications have gone mobile in order to reach customers instantly without any time or location limitations (Kaplan, 2012). Thus, mobile marketing is defined as “any marketing activity conducted through a ubiquitous network to which consumers are constantly connected using a personal mobile device” (Kaplan, 2012, pp. 130). In contrast, mobile social media is defined as a “group of mobile marketing applications that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content” (Kaplan, 2012, pp. 31). It is also claimed that mobile social media applications can be classified according to users’ time and location sensitivity. For example, quick-timers involve the transfer of traditional social media applications to mobile devices to increase immediacy such as posting Twitter messages or Facebook status updates. In contrast, space-timers involve an exchange of messages with relevance for one specific location at one specific point-in time, for example, Facebook places, Foursquare and Gowalla.

Space-timers are the most sophisticated form of mobile social marketing applications as user’s participation does not primarily depend on the user’s monetary motivation. According to the theory, the increasing willingness to check in certain locations through Foursquare can be explained through self-presentation and self-disclosure concepts, and impulsiveness theory which claims that individuals often struggle between displaying long-term control and giving into short-term temptations (Kaplan, 2012).

Therefore, lots of companies are collaborating with Foursquare to promote their sales and discounts, develop relationships and loyalty programs. Furthermore, it is estimated that by 2020 a mobile device will be the primary Internet connection tool for most people in the world (Kaplan, 2010). However, when integrating mobile social marketing applications companies should also make sure that it is integrated into the lives of consumers, offered activities or promotions are individualized according to each user’s preferences and interests and users are involved through engaging in conversations.

Otherwise, it can become intrusive, annoying, and threaten personal privacy. Nevertheless, mobile marketing provides a high rate of personalization, interactivity, low cost of reaching a large audience at the right time at the right place, immediate, one-to-one communication, does not depend on time and space etc. Hence, followed the benefits of increased brand awareness and sales through social media and mobile social marketing applications here are proposed brand positioning strategies for Canadian Club 2014-201 Strategy One

Firstly, a new brand positioning campaign called “Canadian Club-Unexceptional Quality” will be launched in September 2014. A campaign will focus on promoting major brand’s assets quality and exclusivity in order to capture a wider audience. The main company’s strategy will be to use a Facebook application to educate users of a brand’s quality and suitability for various occasions in order to increase the usage. It will involve posts of various taglines such as “There’s no better way to impress a woman than... Canadian Club-Unexceptional Quality” or “To be well-groomed is an exception...

Canadian Club is Unexceptional! ” in order to strengthen the marketing communications message. The campaign is also going to encourage users to post and share photos of various occasions when CC can be consumed. This way brand tries to engage with the audience whilst suggesting that CC is not only old men drink and can be consumed during various occasions. Additionally, in order to boost users’ confidence and strengthen the relationship between the brand’s image and quality the campaign will provide tips on their Facebook page for exclusive Canadian Club consumers on how to best dress up when drinking Canadian Club.

These tips will only be accessed if users liked a page. This campaign’s aim is to engage users in open and active conversations about the brand and its quality, as well as increase awareness. The campaign will be supported by billboards, radio, and youtube videos. Strategy Two Secondly, since the company aims to target a younger audience in order to capture their lifetime loyalty the use of mobile social marketing is essential. Therefore, it is suggested to develop a mobile application that either engages, interacts, or benefits consumers.

Furthermore, many of the companies nowadays collaborate with mobile social media applications such as Foursquare in order to generate users’ word-of-mouth, facilitate sales promotions and discounts, or develop relationships through loyalty programs. Hence, the Canadian Club will use the foursquare website to promote the brand’s image and increase sales. Therefore, users will be encouraged to check-in at five high-class luxurious bars, restaurants, or hotels listed on Canadian Club’s foursquare web page in order to get a 40% discount for a suit for an upcoming occasion from a local high-quality retailer.

The check-ins should be followed by the user’s comment about Canadian Club’s exceptional quality and shared on Facebook with his friends. The number of discounts will be limited and the promotion campaign will run until all the discounts will be given away. Users will be updated on the remaining promotions on Canadian Club’s Facebook page and personally reminded how many more locations they need to check-in if entered a competition. The campaign firstly will be tested in the US and then adopted in emerging markets such as India, China, Russia. Some adjustments will be made if needed to adapt to the local market.

Conclusions

For decades Canadian Club whiskey was known for its exclusivity and unexceptional quality. A brand always tried to differentiate itself from competitors whilst launching various interactive and exciting advertising campaigns that were unusual and innovative for the category. Therefore, when suggesting different brand positioning strategies for 2014-2017 Canadian Club should remain enforcing its distinctive image and promoting high quality in the market. Hence, a number of social media and mobile social marketing strategies were suggested in order to capture younger users’ attention and build lifetime loyalty towards the brand.

For instance, the use of the Facebook application to educate users about Canadian Club’s high quality and suitability for various occasions is suggested, which will increase the brand’s awareness whilst engaging in users’ conversations and encouraging them to share comments and photos. Also, due to an increasing number of mobile application users and forecasts of mobile phones becoming as a primary internet connection tool marketers should pay great attention to mobile social media marketing when developing a brand positioning plan.

Therefore, a Canadian Club’s collaboration with the Foursquare website was advised in order to grab consumers’ attention, spread word-of-mouth, and increase sales whilst asking users to check-in at 5 high class listed locations to get a 20% discount for a high-quality suit from a local retailer. Overall, both of these strategies will allow Canadian Club to position itself as high quality and suitable for various occasions drink among younger consumers and will help to achieve a competitive advantage through the use of mobile social marketing.

References

1. E-jounals: Fournier, S. , 2011.
2. The uninvited brand. Business Horizons, [Online]. 54, 193-207. Available at:http://www. sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/S0007681311000024 [Accessed 02 March 2013] Kaplan, A. M. , 2010. Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizons, [Online]. 53, 59-68. Available at:http://www. sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/S0007681309001232 [Accessed 03 March 2013] Kaplan, A. M. , 2012. If you love something, let it go mobile: Mobile marketing and mobile social media 4x4. Business Horizons, [Online]. 55, 129-139. Available at:http://www. ciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/S0007681311001558 [Accessed 06 March 2013]. Kay, M. J. , 2006. Strong brands and corporate brands. European Journal of Marketing, [Online]. 40, issue 7, 742-760. Available at: http://www. emeraldinsight. com/journals. htm? articleid=1562577&show=abstract[Accessed 11 March 2013] Keller, K. L. , 1993. Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Managing Csutomer-Based Brand Equity. Journal of Marketing, [Online]. 57, 1-22. Available at: http://www. jstor. org/stable/1252054? seq=2&uid=3738032&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21101887384081 [Accessed 12 March 2013] Kessous, A. , 2008.
3. A semiotic analysis of Nostalgia as a connection to the past. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, [Online]. 11, issue 2, 192-212. Available at:http://www. emeraldinsight. com/journals. htm? articleid=1718576&show=abstract [Accessed 11 March 2013] King, C. , 2011. Employee brand equity: Scale development and validation. Journal of Brand Management, [Online]. 19, issue 4, 268-288. Available at: http://www. palgrave-journals. com/bm/journal/v19/n4/abs/bm201144a. html [Accessed 14 March 2013] Kumar, V. , 2012. Increasing the ROI of Social Media Marketing. MITSloan Management Review, [Online]. 4, issue 1, 55-61. Available at: http://scholar. google. co. uk/scholar? q=Increasing+the+ROI+of+Social+media+Marketing&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&as_vis=1 [Accessed 03 March 2013]. Shamma, H. M. , 2011. Integrating Product and Corporate Brand Equity into Total Brand Equity Measurement. International Journal of Marketing Studies, [Online]. 3, issue 1, 11-17. Available at:http://scholar. google. co. uk/scholar? q=Integrating+Product+and+Corporate+Brand+Equity+into+Total+Brand+Equity+Measurement&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&as_vis=1[Accessed 14 March 2013] Websites and Industry Reports: Campaign Brief. 2012.
4. Canadian Club hires comic legend John Cleese to poke fun at 'beer fairies' in new campaign set to launch tomorrow via The Works, Sydney. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www. campaignbrief. com/2012/04/canadian-club-hires-comedian-j. html. [Accessed 05 March 13] Fraser, D. 2013. How Scotch whisky conquered the world. BBC News. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www. bbc. co. uk/news/uk-scotland-20946411. [Accessed 15 March 13] Joseph, S. 2013. Johnnie Walker launches first umbrella brand campaign. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www. marketingweek. co. uk/news/johnnie-walker-preps-umbrella-brand-campaign/4003702. article. Accessed 11 March 13] Key Note (2012) Spirits and Liquors Market 2012. Hampton: Key Note Krashinsky, S. 2012. Mustache marketing: Selling ‘whisky wisdom’ to younger drinkers. [ONLINE] Available at: http://m. theglobeandmail. com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/mustache-marketing-selling-whisky-wisdom-to-younger-drinkers/article5508749/? service=mobile. [Accessed 05 March 13] Lukovitz, K. 2012. Canadian Club Intros “Join the Club” Campaign. Marketing Daily. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www. mediapost. com/publications/article/188057/canadian-club-intros-join-the-club-campaign. html#axzz2O2P5U9uX. [Accessed 14 March 13]

Don't let plagiarism ruin your grade

Run a free check or have your essay done for you

Check my essay Hire Writer