Johnnie Walker is on the Run

Posted on September 2, 2007
Filed Under Blend, WhiskyBuzz |

In a press release Diageo has announced record results for Johnnie Walker, the world’s best selling Scotch whisky, and delivery of an exceptionally challenging 5-year business goal for the brand. The target of an annual sales volume of 15 million cases in F07 laid down in 2001 has been exceeded.

Throughout the 90s, the industry had been negatively impacted by several factors including the Asian crisis and the growing popularity of white spirits. By the mid 90s its share of total spirits had slipped from 4% to 3%. Growth of the Johnnie Walker brand had been stagnant for several years and, in 1997, its share of the category dropped for the first time in a decade.

Despite this unfavourable climate, in 1999, Diageo committed to transforming Johnnie Walker into a global icon brand and the thought-leader for the category. The launch of the innovative and pioneering Keep Walking campaign broke away from traditional whisky advertising, and set the scene for one of the category’s strongest examples of consistent brand building. Since 2001 sales have increased year on year driven by programmes such as the re-launch of Red Label, global programmes for Gold Label and Blue Label, the partnership with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes to name but a few.

The leadership shown by Johnnie Walker has spearheaded growth for the whole industry, bringing about what the Scotch Whisky Association has described as a ‘renaissance’. Exports of Scotch whisky are now at an all time high, with volumes exceeding one billion bottles per annum and the value of the category approaching nearly £2.5 billion.