"Experience Is At The Heart Of Our Industry"

Diageo India’s Chief Marketing Officer Ruchira Jaitly, who is credited with allocating 11 per cent to marketing while achieving 19.7 per cent EBITDA growth, talks to Reema Bhaduri of BW Businessworld about crafting premium spirits for today’s consumers.

- Ruchira Jaitly

You've been with Diageo India for over four years. How do you drive innovation while staying true to legacy brands like Johnnie Walker, McDowell's, Royal Challenge, and others?

For us, innovation spans threefold across our portfolio. Firstly, we reshape our core brands. These are brands like McDowell's and Royal Challenge. As consumers evolve, we believe that our brand propositions and storytelling also need to evolve. For example, with Royal Challenge, we reinvented the entire product bundle - starting from the product itself to the packaging a couple of years ago, and equally, the storytelling and the endorsers we brought on board for Royal Challenge Packaged Drinking Water. The partnerships associated with the trademark also contributed. We came back with a completely rejuvenated bundle that speaks to consumers today.

The second type of innovation is an extension of the core. For instance, the X Series is an innovation that stemmed from McDowell's, while Johnnie Walker Blonde came from the core of Johnnie Walker.

These innovations address new consumer needs and trends things like cocktails, experimentation and expanding drinking repertoires, which are becoming more prominent.

The third type of innovation is 'new-to-world' brands. One example is Godawan, a craft Indian single malt from our distillery in Alwar. It carries a strong purpose -- it contributes to the restoration of habitats for the Godawan, or the Great Indian Bustard, a critically endangered bird native to Rajasthan.

Launching a new-to-world, luxury-priced brand like Godawan is a very significant innovation.