Don t mind if i baileys

Katie Mackay-Sinclair, Jack Farrelly and John Thomson Source: Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, Silver, IPA Effectiveness Awards, 2018 Downloaded from WARC

Baileys: A radical brand turnaround story with extra sprinkles

Baileys, a brand of cream liqueur, repositioned itself into the world of 'real adult treats' and reversed downwards trending sales.

While Baileys was a much-loved brand in the UK, this did not translate into sales as from 2010 Baileys volume sales were declining at an average rate of eight per cent per year. Baileys' research indicated that cream liqueurs were consumed in smaller quantities and less frequently so Baileys' campaign featured diverse ways of consuming Baileys whether as a drink by itself, combined with other drinks or as a dessert. Baileys reinvested into cost effective formats allowing it to reach more women more often than ever before across TV, media partnerships, sponsorship and digital. Since launching its campaign average annual growth stands at 11%.

Campaign details

Brand: Baileys Advertiser: Diageo Agency: Mother; Carat

Introduction

This is a story about the one of the world's most-loved spirits brands, Baileys, and its transformation from dusty liqueur to delicious treat.

It's the tale of Baileys fortunes in GB – a market central to the brand's growth, the biggest market in Europe for Baileys, and the second biggest market globally. In GB Baileys represents 12% of profits1 (the third biggest

brand in GB behind Guinness and Smirnoff).

This case demonstrates how having nothing to lose can inspire radical reframing of the brand, media and creative strategy to trigger consumption and deliver a profit ROI 1.3 times than the pre-campaign average and 2.6 times the Spirits category average across Europe.2 This delivered a 54% increase in average annual net profit generated for the business.3

Background: the Irish cream conundrum

In Britain, over 10.1 million people say they love Baileys making it the most-loved spirits brand amongst women, and second most-loved amongst all adults (Figures 1 and 2).4

Figure 1: Brand love amongst females

Source: Millward Brown

Figure 2: Brand love amongst all adults

Source: Millward Brown

But the central paradox for many loved brands is love doesn't necessarily translate into sales. Since 2010 Baileys volume sales were declining at an average rate of 8% per year (Figure 3).5

Figure 3: Bailey total off-trade volume sales (MAT)

Source: Nielsen Off-trade

With brand love not translating into volume sales, our plight was compounded by the fact that cream liqueurs offer fewer occasions to drink than other spirits brands.6 A picture brought to life through comparison to the rest of the Diageo portfolio (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Spirits that are suitable for most drinking occasions

Source: Millward Brown

When people do drink liqueurs, they do so in smaller volumes too (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Percentage of serves drunk across all occasions

Source: Millward Brown

To put the scale of the task into context, delivering the same volume growth as a brand like Smirnoff would require three times as many drinkers.7

Unsurprisingly, internal belief in the future of Baileys had hit rock bottom. Price had become the only lever to drive sales,8 and with reduced investment in the brand projected for at least the next two years, the perception was that Baileys' time had passed.

One senior executive said 'Baileys is like an anchor, holding Diageo back'. Without a radical reversal of fortunes, Baileys future was bleak.

In October 2015 a decision was made that a change of strategy was required.

A bold new set of objectives

Against this bleak context, a bold set of objectives were agreed to reverse the decline and return the brand to growth. We needed a platform that would save the brand in the short term, as well as establish a bright long- term future for Baileys.

Drive renewed internal belief in the Baileys brand at Diageo

Diageo was getting ready to pull the plug on investment in Baileys and redistribute it across the portfolio, where growth could be realised. Reinvigorating the belief in Baileys from senior internal stakeholders would be critical.

Increase versatility of the Baileys liquid

For our audience of 'modern women' (women 18+, of which there are 26 million in the UK) Baileys was seen as a one-trick pony: it was to be poured over ice, probably around Christmas time.9

This was painfully restricting the number of consumption occasions it was possible for the brand to enter.

Turn latent love into consumption and reverse the decline in volume sales

Baileys' volume sales had been declining year-on-year and confidence in the brand's ability to turn this around was all but eroded. Our focus in this paper is off-trade sales, as these account for 90% of all Baileys sales volume and are most indicative of performance.10

Do it as efficiently as possible and deliver a benchmark-beating ROI

As a lower priority brand in the portfolio, it was important we were able to prove a return. We set ourselves the huge challenge of beating the top ROIs tracked by Diageo in spirits.

Demonstrate true effectiveness by delivering a profit for Diageo

Efficiency would be great, but proof that Baileys hadn't had its day would only come if we delivered an incremental profit for Diageo – and did so in the context of investment reduction.

From nadir to radical reframe: a new strategic agenda

When you find yourself at such a low, the aggregation of marginal gains just won't cut it. With nothing to lose we faced some brutal truths about our category, strategy and creative approach which led to three radical reframes.

Radical reframe 1: from the cream liqueur category, to the world of 'real treats'.

As a category, cream liqueurs was dormant and dusty. Rather than try to change the rules of this category, we decided to change the category we played in.

Radical reframe 2: from one-off festive blockbuster to millions of triggers to treat.

We recognised the disinvestment in the brand, and scale of the task, in a media approach that would allow Baileys to reach millions when it mattered most.

Radical reframe 3: from lofty purpose to product indulgence.

And finally, rather than expect we could win in treating through continuing the lofty purpose communications of old, we focused on our product truth.

Reimagining Baileys as a 'Real adult treat'

Embracing the indulgent truth at the heart of our liquid gave us a launchpad out of the dormant liqueurs category (there hasn't been a single liqueur category entrant to the IPA effectiveness awards since 199211) and into the world of 'real adult treats' – a category that, unlike cream liqueurs offered strong growth potential (Figure 6).

Figure 6: The growing 'real adult treat' category

And in an age where food and drink had become a source of entertainment, stepping into the 'real adult treat' space gave us the opportunity to place our brand and product at the centre of a cultural phenomenon modern women were very much part of (Figure 7).

Figure 7: The vibrant world of food and drink entertainment

To better understand the adult treating category, we undertook global behavioural ethnographic research into why and how our target of modern women indulge. This helped us identify key differences between humdrum everyday treats and the real adult treat space we sought to play within (Figure 8).

Figure 8: We identified what it means to be a 'real adult treat'

Source: The Behavioural Architects

Behavioural insight was overlaid with semiotic analysis of the treating space, pulling apart the tensions that characterise the category, and reviewing the opportunities these tensions create.

Seen through the lens of our behavioural insight, we then isolated the semiotic heartland that best aligned with the 'real treat' opportunity for Baileys; a space that drives desire through an invitation to reimagine – just what our radical reframe from cream liqueur to real treat needed.

We got a clear sense of what this would mean for our approach, as mess, colour and playfulness are crucial ingredients when executing in this space – they represent true, liberated enjoyment and indulgence (Figure 9).

Figure 9: Mess, colour and playfulness were identified as key qualities

Source: Flamingo Semiotics

Finally, we overlaid our understanding onto the Diageo Demand Space framework to isolate the largest opportunities for the brand.

Our main priority was 'indulgent relax at home', estimated to be the largest occasion in GB12 (around 13% of all drinks) with real headroom for the brand to grow share and alignment with the new 'real treat' positioning.

These learnings helped to unlock our new strategic approach, informing our brand, media and creative outputs.

A new positioning – Baileys as co-conspirator

Previously Baileys' purpose had championed spirited women, but our new perspective on the brand demanded a total overhaul. Women don't need to be told what's delicious, when it's OK to treat themselves to something indulgent, or that they've 'earned it': they already know. They enjoy what they enjoy no permission or apology required. Baileys should be their ally in spontaneous, impulsive treating.

We had to move from empowering women to conspiring with them.

Figure 10: Unlike previous Baileys campaigns which focused upon empowering our female target

A new media approach: millions of triggers to treat

We had reframed our brand as co-conspirator and our delicious liquid as a real treat. The role for communications would be to trigger this impulse and demonstrate versatility amongst modern women. A group who draw their inspiration from recipes videos they view as a form of entertainment.

A new marketing model was developed to drive millions of simple compelling triggers to consumption.

We banned the blockbuster

By banning the blockbuster of old, budget was freed up and reinvested into cost-effective formats (after all a 10- second and 20-second TVCs cost a lot less than a 60-second blockbuster), allowing Baileys to reach more women more often than ever before across TV, media partnerships, sponsorship and digital (Figure 11).

Figure 11: Indexed cost of TV formats

Source: Carat

We got rigorous with targeting

Each channel was carefully planned to ensure that it reached our audience in the must-win purchase and consumption occasions associated with the two demand spaces 'indulgent relax at home' and 'planned meal out'. Hundreds of occasions were mapped, the below chart shows a selection of these (Table 1).

Table 1: Three key moments for 'indulge and relax at home'

We got close to the tastemakers

We invited some of the leading voices in food and drink culture to co-create a series of thoroughly modern recipes with our liquid; recipes that when shared across their social platforms would tempt viewers to try Baileys in a new and delicious way.

Liberated from the narrowcast constraints of Christmas blockbuster advertising, we were able to reach more people more often, across more occasions than ever before, triggering when it mattered most.

A new creative idea

As already established, the reason people love Baileys was not because of its philosophies on emancipated pleasure-seeking but because of its delicious liquid. Our creative idea needed to use this truth to trigger consumption.

In a world where endlines are too often used as three-word philosophies rather than tools of business effect, we went looking for a line that would act as a long-term trigger of consumption, an unlocker of latent love and one that we could imagine women saying to themselves and their friends when they chose a Baileys.

'Don't mind if I Baileys' was born.

Figure 12: 'Don't mind if I Baileys'

From theory to theatrics: the first iteration of 'Don't mind if I Baileys'

The first iteration of the campaign was all about putting the indulgent liquid at the centre of key treating occasions across TV, partnerships, recipe content and programmatic display.

Four short-form TVCs sought to drive versatility and 'real treat' by highlighting the brunch, at home on the sofa, sweet finish after a meal and Christmas occasions. Each reached women at home on the sofa when they were ready to Indulge and relax, this was complemented with digital targeted at must-win moments (Figure 13–17).

Figure 13: 'Safa' TVC

Figure 14: 'Brunch' TVC

Figure 15: 'Presents' TVC

Figure 16: 'Pear' TVC

Figure 17: An example narrative in detail: 'Pear' TVC

Recipe videos were created in collaboration with treating trendsetters like 'Molly Bakes' and coffee connoisseurs like 'The Grind' and amplified these across social media (Figures 18 and 19).

Figure 18: 'Molly Bakes' recipe content

Figure 19: 'The Grind' recipe content

Programmatic display and mobile were used to playfully deliver serves to audiences at the times and in the places they would be most likely to treat. Whether browsing for dinner party recipes or entering a supermarket, hundreds of moments were mapped and relevant creative messaging served to each (Figure 20).

Figure 20: Programmatic display

We partnered with Proper Tasty to reach women with culturally and seasonally relevant serve content. The videos were viewed a total of 19 million times (Figure 21).13

Figure 21: Proper Tasty partnership

We started to see significant momentum.

We had created 325 million triggers to treat (defined as total cross-media impressions), reaching 93% of women in GB an average of 13 times. That's almost twice as many as the previous campaign14.

But there remained much to be improved upon as we looked to year two.

Evolving the campaign: finding the sweet-spot

Our comms weren't working hard enough to deliver on our strategic intent.

For a creative approach intended to break out of the liqueur category and trigger the treating impulse, metrics so close to norms on 'is a real treat' and 'is a delicious drink' weren't ideal – not least because these were spirits category norms (Figures 22 and 23).

Figure 22: 'Is a real treat'

Source: Millward Brown Ad Diagnostics 2016

Figure 23: 'Is a delicious drink'

Source: Millward Brown Ad Diagnostics 2016

We'd also learned a lot from a media and deployment perspective.

Investment was increased into channels that helped provide a consistent presence across the year, namely media partnerships and sponsorships, allowing Baileys to maintain a front-of-mind presence across as many weeks as possible with inspirational triggers that dialled up our 'real treat' and 'delicious drink' messaging (Figure 24).

Figure 24: Sponsorship and partnership as a percentage of media spend

Source: Carat 2016

The second iteration of 'Don't mind if I Baileys': the cherry on top

Taking on board what we'd learned, year two of the campaign was about maximising the deliciousness of our millions of triggers.

Three TVCs focused on playfully ingenious serves, that crucially, would be easy for our audience to actually make. And this time, we truly embraced the lick-the-screen-delicious world of treating; our indulgent serves took centre stage (Figures 25–27).

Figure 25: 'Cancelled plans' TVC

Figure 26: 'Drink it too' TVC

Figure 27: An example narrative in detail: 'Antlers' TVC

We also created sponsorship idents for Made in Chelsea (MIC). Not only do Baileys and MIC have a great deal in common (they're both unapologetic, charming, witty and very indulgent) the slot time afforded us the opportunity to present our audience with a myriad of playful and imaginative triggers to treat within the "indulgent relax at home" moment (Figure 28).

Figure 28: Some example MIC idents in detail

But TV was just one part of a much wider ecosystem of triggers.

More recipe videos were created to be deployed in social channels. Their objective was to drive lick the screen deliciousness, and playfully prompt our audience to reimagine the number of ways it's possible to drink Baileys (Figures 29 and 30).

Figure 29: Some example recipe videos – 'Hot chocolate challenge'

Figure 30: Some example recipe videos – 'Flat white martini'

Programmatic was used to present delicious serves to people at the times and in the places they would be most likely to act – achieving a click-through rate almost three times the industry average. Our serves (not the occasion) took centre-stage to maximise lick-the-screen deliciousness and drive desire to have a Baileys when you feel like an adult treat (Figure 31).

Figure 31: Programmtic

We also partnered with foodie blog and recipe hub TasteMade, which enabled us to create even more videos than before. We chalked up 69 million views15 at one point our 'French toast' video became the second most viewed video on Facebook globally (Figure 32) 16

Figure 32: Tastemade Baileys French toast recipe

The ghost brownies recipe video even made its way to LA, with Kim Kardashian loving one of our recipes (Figure 33).

Figure 33: Tastemade Baileys ghost brownies recipe

Recipe content was shoppable too, through a partnership with Adimo, encouraging viewers to give into temptation and order the whole recipe there and then (Figure 34).

Figure 34: 'Shoppable' recipe content

Our real treat proposition was brought to life through activation at Christmas markets and the Baileys Treat Stop, where we saw queues around the block for Baileys-inspired treats (Figures 35 and 36).

Figure 35: Baileys at Christmas markets

Figure 36: Baileys Treat Stop in Covent Garden

Through sponsorship and partnerships we created even more triggers (defined as impressions) in the second iteration of the campaign 376 million of them in total.

The performance of assets in the second iteration of 'Don't mind if I Baileys'

Significant progress had been made. Across all of the Optimisers Millward Brown carried out for Diageo across Europe in 2016 (36 ads in total) – 'Antlers' was the best performing.17

Reviewing our performance before the campaign, and through the two years of content so far, we could see year-on-year improvement. From failing to reach norms as the work moved to the new strategy we beat them almost universally in 2017 as we cracked the code of the treats category.

In short, our scores went from a sea of amber to a sea of bright green (Figure 37).

Figure 37: Millward Brown Optimiser scores

Source: 2017 Millward Brown Optimiser

Revisiting our objectives

We didn't just meet our objectives but proved Baileys has a bright future in both the short and long term. It's no wonder confidence in the brand has returned.

Did we drive renewed internal belief in the Baileys brand at Diageo?

Baileys is now seen as brand that proves that marketing works (Figure 38).

Figure 38: Client comment

The 'Don't mind if I Baileys' campaign was called out in the 'category review' section of the Diageo 2017 Annual Report; it was the only advertising campaign mentioned (Figure 39).

Figure 39: Diageo 2017 Annual Report

The campaign's simplicity and power was also lauded by senior executives outside the marketing team (Figure 40).

Figure 40: Client comment

Support for the campaign has gone right to the very top of the organisation (Figure 41).

Figure 41: Client comment

While this paper focuses upon GB, belief within the Diageo organisation is now so strong that investment in Baileys marketing is being increased around the world.18

Did we increase versatility of the Baileys liquid?

Since the campaign Baileys is not just perceived as – but also consumed as – a far more versatile liquid.19

Ad diagnostic analysis from a Millward Brown Optimiser study shows our creative worked particularly hard at driving versatility and deliciousness.

Our lead creative for example, 'Antlers', performed significantly above Diageo spirit norms on both 'Can be enjoyed in many different ways' and 'Is a delicious treat' (Figures 42 and 43).

Figure 42: 'Can be enjoyed in many different ways'

Source: Millward Brown Ad Diagnostics

Figure 43: 'Is a delicious treat'

Source: Millward Brown Ad Diagnostics

This was echoed in a perceptual shift picked up in the broader brand tracking, with the number of people saying 'Baileys can be enjoyed in many different ways' increasing by 12% (Figure 44).

Figure 44: Versatility perceptions among females 25-34

Source: Millward Brown Brand Tracking

But this was about much more than just perception.

Past 4 week consumption data shows the average ways Baileys drinkers are actually consuming Baileys is on the rise:

Three times as many people reported drinking Baileys in an iced coffee;20

Twice as many people reported drinking Baileys in a flat white martini;21

Twice as many people reported drinking Baileys in any other kind of cocktail22

In fact, overall the average number of ways people drunk Baileys increased by 30% (Figure 45).23

Figure 45: Overall average ways of drinking

Source: Millward Brown

It's clear that once people saw that Baileys could be consumed in many different indulgent ways, their own consumption behaviour followed suit. And now Baileys was beginning to be seen as a 'real adult treat' rather than a dusty cream liqueur, the Baileys brand and liquid began to appear in culture too. (Figure 46)

Figure 46

Of course, there was always the risk that such a radical reframe could damage the strength of the Baileys brand. It didn't. Baileys 'meaningfulness score' (a combination of taste, quality and brand love scores) wasn't diminished either by entering the treat category of by moving away from the previous position of championing women (Figure 47).

Figure 47: Baileys 'meaningful' score

Source: Millward Brown brand tracking 2017

Did we turn latent love into consumption and reverse the decline in volume sales?

Before 'Don't mind if I Baileys' volume sales had been declining steadily for five years. Since the launch of the new campaign, Baileys sales have been turned around.

In the four years leading up to the new strategy, Baileys volume sales had been declining at an average rate of 8% per year. Since launch, average annual growth stands at 11%.

Figure 48: Baileys total off-trade volume sales (MAT)

Source: Nielsen 'total coverage' off-trade data

Figure 49 shows that the volume growth picks up in line with the implementation of the new strategy.

Figure 49: Baileys total off-trade volume sales (MAT)

Source: Nielsen "total coverage" off trade data

Did we deliver a profitable return on investment for Baileys?

This wasn't just about turning the Baileys brand around; we had to do it in the most efficient and effective way possible. A strong ROI was not just about proving our work worked, but also showing how effective and efficient marketing spend – both working and not working – could be.

The impact of the campaign on sales and profit was calculated using a set of econometric models developed by Data2Decisions. These models show that the total profit return on media spend was 2.10 (110%), adding in production costs and fees the profit return on total marketing investment was 1.54 (54%).

The new campaign didn't just outperform prior expectations, but also smashed Diageo advertising ROI benchmarks.

Baileys was now delivering the highest advertising ROI of any Diageo spirits brand in any market in Europe (Figure 50).

Figure 50: Medi ROI benchmarks

Source: Data2Decisions

And the creative and media optimisations helped the campaign gain momentum, with the second iteration of the campaign delivering a media ROI of 2.39, representing a 28% increase on the first (Figure 51).

Figure 51: Comparing the median ROI of both iterations of 'Don't mind if I Baileys'

Source: Data2Decisions

And most importantly, was the new approach more profitable than the previous strategy?

The new strategy enabled us to deliver more profit for less investment. We were more effective and more efficient. The 'Don't mind if I Baileys' campaign delivered an ROI 30% higher than the average for Baileys campaigns over the previous four years.

Whilst we are not able to divulge absolute profit figures in this paper we can confirm that, compared to the previous four years of Baileys advertising, the campaign delivered 18% more incremental gross profit despite a 6% drop in average annual media investment, this meant that average annual net profit generated (incremental gross profit less costs) increased 54%, a highly amplified bottom line impact (Figure 52).

Figure 52: Performance change: pre vs. post campaign launch

Source: Carat, Data2Decisions, Diageo

Following our recipe: what we learned

Go back to the heart of the brand and the product: Strip away the marketing and challenge yourself to understand what it is about what you're selling that might motivate consumers. Our radical reframes were only possible when we liberated ourselves and the brand from the ephemeral, causes, crusades and conceptual benefits that had characterised communications to-date. The breakthrough came from celebrating what consumers loved most – the product itself.

Break out of your category: Marginal gains might cut it for Olympic cycling teams, but when every metric is in trouble, you have to be brave enough to break the rules.

Consider a trigger model: Marketers often believe there needs to be a choice between building a brand and driving consumption, but there need not be. A trigger model can be used to reach people more often and in more relevant occasions whilst simultaneously building a brand for the long-term.

There's power in simplicity: A simple yet powerful strategy not only makes it more likely the approach will thrive beyond the marketing team, it also increases the chances of the total business being able to deliver against it.

Never underestimate the power of the sprinkle on top of an already great cake: If a campaign looks like it's working in Year 1, don't rest, make it work harder.

The proof in the pudding: discounting other factors

Econometric modelling conducted by Data2Decisions isolated the incremental sales growth driven by the new communications approach.

This section demonstrates how none of the other key sales drivers could have been responsible for the turnaround in sales performance for Baileys. In the below section we refer to the 'pre' period as the four years leading up to the launch of 'Don't mind if I Baileys' and the 'post' period as the two years after the launch of 'Don't mind if I Baileys' unless stated otherwise.

Price and promotions

The turnaround in sales performance for Baileys was not driven by a reduction in price neither a lower shelf (everyday) price nor through more price promotions. In fact, the average off-trade selling price increased slightly in the period during the campaign (Figure 53).

Figure 53: Total Baileys off-trade – average price per litre

Source: Nielsen "total coverage" off trade data

Whilst Baileys has few direct competitors of any significant scale, the average selling price of other liqueurs over the same period followed a similar trajectory with an increase in average selling price of c.1%.

Similarly, we can see that the percentage sold on promotion and frequency of promotional price discounting has actually either remained flat or decreased on the two original Baileys SKUs that account for over 90% of total Baileys volume sales (note the impact of flavoured variants is covered in the 'product range' section below) (Figures 54 and 55).

Figure 54: Average weekly percentage sold on promotion

Source: Nielsen total Grocery Multiples data

Figure 55: Average weekly percentage of stores runing a promotion

Source: Nielsen total Grocery Multiples, % PCW distribution "any promotion"

In-store activity

Alongside price promotions, Baileys will also typically feature in front-of-store displays at key times of year with retailers also featuring Baileys promotions in their own marketing material and leaflets, especially at Christmas. While distribution and price remain the same, we have seen a 1% uplift in store displays which reflects the fact that belief in the campaign drove commercial activation in GB. However, within the model, there is no evidence that increases in levels of in-store activity or number of special features by retailers was a key reason for the sales increase (Figures 56 and 57).

Figure 56: Baileys OIC in-store display distribution

Source: Nielsen Total Grocery Multiples data, average weekly weighted distribution

Figure 57: Baileys OIC freature and display distribution

Source: Nielsen Total Grocery Multiples data, average weekly weighted distribution

Product range

Although Baileys benefited historically from regular new flavour launches, over the last eight years, sales of flavoured variants has been in decline, prompting Diageo to focus on producing a smaller number of more sustainable flavour variants. As such, the product range has actually shrunk since the campaign launch, with all of the brand growth being driven by the core Baileys Original Irish Cream variant (Figure 58).