 Hello and welcome to exchangeformedia.com. My guest today is a marketer who believes that marketing should be vibrant and inclusive. And by being the CMO of country's leading liquor brand, I believe Ruchira Jaitley is leading by example. Please welcome Ruchira Jaitley, Chief Marketing Officer, Diageo India. Thank you Nazia. Thank you so much for such a warm welcome and a very very laudatory introduction. Ruchira Diageo is known for its diverse portfolio. Could you share some insights into the company's approach to innovation and new product development, especially in the context of the Indian market? Of course. Diageo is a company with a really fantastic portfolio of brands and categories across the world. And that gives us the ability to play in different occasions with different consumers and through different day paths. The way we like to look at our portfolio is not or but and. So consumers are looking to premiumize, so how do we give them ways to drink better, not more? Consumers are looking to experiment and looking to find new ways to really try the same liquids, new rituals. How do we give them the opportunity to sample those brands and to actually find ways to maybe experience them in new ways in social occasions? And that's a third theme post COVID. We're finding it's not just formal occasions. People are looking to socialize, build moments of celebration in more casual occasions with close members of family and friends. So how do we deliver experiences that work in those casual social occasions, not just the big celebratory ones, right? And if I look at all three of them, they give you a really nice spectrum of places to innovate, liquids. The last one I think is consumers are also, they are so globally synced up because of COVID, all the content they're watching. So global sync with a lot of rootedness in what's local. And that's a fascinating, it's almost a tapestry you can build where you've got global brands, you've got local brands, you've got global experiences equally, you've got local experiences, local ingredients. So we've got a large number of premium propositions that we're putting out, whether we look at Godavan, which is an Indian single malt, literally born out of the desert in Rajasthan, whether it's Don Julio, which is a tequila brand that we've just launched, or whether it is Walkers & Co and Johnny Walker and Johnny Walker Blonde, which has really taken the market by storm because it's a fantastic light and a very, very different liquid that's talking to the younger consumer. The projected revenue for the alcohol drinks market is anticipated to reach dollars 46.6 billion in 2023. And there are lots of numbers that I could found that the annual growth rate is expected to be 7.33%. So according to recent research by a market analysis, these numbers were as per them, as a key player in the beverage industry, particularly with Diageo being a leading brand, could you elaborate on the specific contributions and strategies that you believe set Diageo apart from the competition and how do you contribute to the dynamics of the industry? So I think like I said earlier, one is our portfolio, our literally enviable portfolio of global brands, equally is our innovation strategy. We have a certified R&D center sitting out of Bangalore in India, which very, very few, maybe we're the only organization that has that kind of certification for the R&D center. So between the global portfolio and innovation, we have a whole range of products and experiences for consumers. But I think there are some overarching things. One is premiumization. So we have talked about growth, but consumers are actually growing much faster in terms of adopting better liquids to drink. I don't think they're necessarily drinking as much more at the bottom of the pyramid, which is in line with our policy, where we encourage consumers to drink better, not more. And therefore, we're introducing more and more premium propositions, better and more responsible ways really to enjoy the same liquids as well. The second way in which we stand apart is we build brands with a lot of purpose behind them. Our brands are not about, well, we're not just about going out and creating brand awareness for the heck of it, right? Like look at today, we were sharing a lot of examples today at the Diversity and Inclusion Summit, a health I ask you, where we were talking about how our brands are really giving or empowering voices that do not naturally get represented in mainstream media, whether it is the LGBTQIA++ population with Aravani on Walkers and Co, whether it is someone like Saad who was part of our panel today. Saad is a deaf actor. We actually included him and built a story that was about his friendship with Kartik Aharyan, who's part of our McDowell's and company latest creative. And all of that is really to represent groups, people who are underrepresented and also give a voice for maybe less underrepresented marginalized groups in mainstream media with purpose. I really think that's what makes our brand stand apart because when people consume our brands, not only are they being told to drink responsibly and drink better, but we're also telling them that these brands stand for values that hopefully will inspire us to build a diverse and inclusive society that we all want to be a part of. Richira, I'm very interested in what you've just said. And last four, five years, I've been reading so much about this SaroGate advertising. And it's such a big challenge to be a marketer of a liquor brand. How do you do that? Because there's so many prohibitions from ASCII and from government. You can't promote your product too much. How do you do that? What are the challenges of being a marketer? So we don't do SaroGate advertising, Nazia. We have very compliant ways of working with ASCII on approved extensions to our brands, which we then sell in markets across the country, audited and certified, and then market. We also, by the way, partner with a large number of people from civil society, whether it's the police, the traffic police, whether it's university students, whether it's also providing resources online on responsible drinking and behavior. So our advertising actually is not SaroGate, but for legitimate extensions which have large businesses that are nationally present. And in addition to that, we spend a lot of our resources on actually telling people about how we can educate them to drink better. And it is a philosophy that I believe extremely strongly in. So that's what we do as DRGO. Globally, it's a different scenario, but in India, we comply very, very strictly with the regulatory framework and the authorities in that matter. But what I'm trying to understand is the challenge of selling your product. So there's no challenge. Selling. So there's no challenge because it is a legitimate product extension, which we are putting out, whether it is a Johnny Walker sparkling mixer, whether it is a black and white ginger ale widely available on e-commerce and legitimate large businesses. I'm talking of liquor. Like how do you market that? So we do not advertise alcohol. You do some partnerships with brands, with influencers, you do experiential marketing. So there is absolutely no, there is, you know, how are you promoting those brands? You're not promoting them at all. So what we do is one, in retail outlets, right, there is visibility because the brand is present. Equally with consumers above legal drinking age, they can interact with our brands and our services responsibly at points of consumption on premise. Okay, right. And that really, and that's why a large, to your point, a large part of the effort that I spent is how we can make those experiences more and more memorable. And that is completely in tandem with the consumer trend where consumers are looking for new experiences. That being said, like I said, we have legitimate extensions that we put out, which is what we advertise. And that is strictly compliant to both ASCII guidelines as well as to the regulatory framework in the country. And I am extremely proud of the fact that we are highly compliant as an organization and work very hard to ensure that at every single level of the organization. You also spoke about responsible consumption. Yes. So what kind of steps have you taken, you know, to promote that? Thanks for asking. We've done three or four really big things. And I'll talk about those pillars separately. One is working with authorities. We work with the traffic police. We work with all kinds of authorities to actually take the message of education on responsible drinking. It's a program called, if you can give us little more details about. Create content, create training programs, a course that drivers go through before they have, which they mandatory view before they get their driving license. So we actually partner with the traffic police in a number of states where before you get your driving license and you've passed your test, you actually have to go through this entire module on responsible drinking. Okay. That's one part which is with regulatory authorities. The other part we do is we also, by the way, educate students, people who are getting into the category to say, this is, you know, there's responsible drinking and then there is all the, all the negative side effects of not drinking responsibly. And we have a global program called Drink IQ. And by the way, every single employee, before I joined DRGO, I had to go into the program and get certified. I was quizzed on it. And only after that was I even given my first ID to walk into the premise. So it's something that we believe for employees across the organization. And also we can, we take this program out for anyone who wishes to do so. For example, more details of the program. Yeah, because, you know, you can literally go and scan a QR code, and you can go online, you can take the test, you can learn about what are good or bad behaviors and, you know, common misconceptions. So that's something that we promote actively, actively promoted. The third thing we do, which is also something I'm proud of is, we use all of our resources with celebrities, with teams. So for example, we've done large scale reach campaigns, 60 million, 100 million people whom we've reached literally year after year with campaigns where we use, for example, a Virat Kohli or the five or six IPL teams that we're associated with to create communication campaigns that actually talk about the fact that you can celebrate responsibly. Even now as we speak, we have got screens on premise, which is in bars, right. And there are TV screens. On those screens, we actually put up messages about taking a water break. So have a sip of water on, on actually eating something between drinks, about how you can be responsible by having a limited amount of alcohol and not overdoing it. Globally, we have many such campaigns. We've just launched a new campaign for the festive season because we realize this is the time of year when people do want to know more about the category. I think we all believe that it's in our own interest to ensure that we promote responsible drinking. And we also tell people that they don't need to drink more to have a good time. They can actually take the water break. The last which I'm really keen to see more of in India is globally across our brands we have launched non-alcoholic versions. What that means is you get the same great taste, right, but it has zero alcohol, right. So whether it's Guinness, whether it's Tancre, whether it's Captain Morgan, and then there's of course a brand called Seedlip, which is a non-alcoholic brand. And we actively promote these brands across some of our largest media platforms because we believe that people have to have the choice. And if they like the taste or the perception of having a certain kind of a drink, but they want to stay away from the alcohol, that is something that we would actively promote. So it is actually a fully rounded approach, starting from partnering with regulatory authorities and providing information using scale media, celebrities and campaigns to bring it alive. And finally also to have the right products and innovations so people can moderate their drinking or choose not to drink at all. It's very interesting. Your role as a marketer is less to bring awareness of your product, but also to, you know, aware audiences about or your consumers about how to use it responsibly, right. Someone said this today in the panel and I thought there was a beautiful quote and I'm going to borrow it. I don't know where he got it from. This is Hayden, who is a partner at Vice Media. He said that you got to think of your brand like an Uber with the larger purpose, that's your destination. Our larger purpose and destination is celebrating lives every day everywhere, right. And we believe that alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages have a role in that celebration and therefore with the Uber that will get you there and I'm on the taxi, whatever, if you want an unbranded moment, but with the taxi that will get you to that moment of celebrating lives every day everywhere. I think we've been through as civilization, as humanity, been through a lot of tough years. We continue to be in a very uncertain world. As a philosophy, celebrating lives every day and everywhere should be really what we all want to do, right. Now, how can we help you make that journey responsibly, safely and get to a destination that works for both. Richira, you just spoke about that we are in middle of festive season, right. Diwali is just over and Christmas is on its way, New Year is there. So, first half of the year was not very good for the overall ad industry. They were, most marketers were holding back their budgets. I think it was a little better than World Cup, things opened up. Has this festive season helped you get your revenues back or how has been the festive season for you? I think it's too soon to comment about festive because we're still in the thick of it and we still believe that consumers are looking for moments. I mean, we've still got a good run to go and not just festive is also the comeback of weddings, which is, you know, again, a moment of celebration in India. The great Indian wedding is now a legend across the world. If I look at our philosophy, it has always been to invest behind our brands and businesses so that we can deliver long term sustainable growth and that continues to be our outlook. We shared our results and we actually delivered a dividend for the first time I think in what was it, more than 10 years, which I think was a huge testimony to the fact that as a business, we're being able to drive that sustainable growth and therefore sustainable return for all our stakeholders. I don't see why that outlook would change. So, yeah, and I hope festive is a good season for all of us. Everyone needs a good festive season. I think all of us deserve it after everything that's happened over the last few years. So, you know, most marketers these days are talking about their digital journey, you know, how are they using digital to promote their products and their media mix has changed over the years. How is it for Diageo? Likewise, we are actually, we were very early adopters on to this journey because it gave us the ability to speak to consumers in a very targeted manner for one. For the second, I think digital and technology is going to become an omnipresent part of our lives. We're already seeing we're probably onto a whole new wave of transformation that's going to give us the next curve really post-COVID and digital access. So, I think it's exciting. It's also going to be a huge learning journey. To your point on Diageo and how important it is, because of the fact that we are responsible about the way we communicate, we are actually not present on a lot of mainstream media. So, therefore, we are very clear about how we communicate and, you know, our promotion plans on digital as well. That being said, there is no doubt that content is today driving the way consumers are engaging with brands and culture, right? It's the reverse. Earlier, brands spoke, consumers listened, and that was the way they engaged. It's now turning to a place where content is really where they see brands, they see culture, and then they find ways to engage deeper. It gives us two or three big opportunities. One is communities. Communities are stronger than ever, so we want to engage with communities meaningfully, and I think our brands with purpose deliver that. The second is it gives us the ability to be more focused and targeted for different brands and propositions, and that for us is always going to be a good opportunity. For example, if I want to reach out through, let's say, and look for options to build the most fantastic experience at my wedding, I know where to go and access it, and that gives me a responsible way to access information about the category. And the third thing, which digital gives you is also it gives you the ability to have meaningful conversations because you can understand who your consumers are better, what are their needs, what is the information they're looking for. So you can build an ecosystem around it. On those three pillars, the transformation, the technology that will be used, whether it is AI, whether it's generative AI, whether it's going to be using all kinds of new age tools to make it come alive. I mean, that's the question, isn't it? And that's what we're all going to be looking to. So it's going to be a fascinating next couple of years. We wish you all the best and thank you so much for answering all the questions. And we really wish you an exciting festive season. Thank you. Thanks for talking. Thank you so much.