Pernod Ricard

Future Platforms: Consumer And Customer Tracking

Defining Gen Z and shaping opportunities...

Readying For Change

Pernod Ricard, with its expansive portfolio of premium brands, is, like all alcohol companies, getting set for changing times ahead – times in which the role of premium spirits is ripe for re-definition, as factors such as health, well-being, socialising, drinking occasions, life/work tensions and much more come under scrutiny.

We were briefed to present a credible multi-market view of the Gen Z consumer – a playbook presenting their values and how they are living, then taking this through to outlining the platforms for change that priority brands in the portfolio – including Chivas, Ballantine’s, Passport, Beefeater, Absolut and Malibu – need to work with in areas like product, flavour, serve, media and influencer strategy.

From Trends To Communities

Our work started with a set of hypotheses: macro-level trends to shape up, connect with the objectives, then test out in the consumer research phase - with an emphasis on comparing Gen Z (specifically those aged 18-23) with millennials.

Our fieldwork was all conducted online in this instance - running closed communities in China, Mexico, India, the US, UK and Spain. We took in the broad foundational view on their lives - but then zoomed in to explore a couple of key socialising occasions and the appeal of new concepts. Particular challenges were structuring the online work to avoid participant fatigue and balancing out the global story with local nuance.

Strategic Recommendations

Our strategic recommendations built around themes such as:

+ The new markers of maturity

+ Shifts in cultural orthodoxy from ‘rebellion’ to ‘consideration’

+ The tensions formed from this cohort’s need to feel entrepreneurial

+ And, naturally, mapping where, among all of these schisms from millennial norms, alcohol and drinking moments have a tangible role

In short, we contextualised trends to drive Pernod Ricard’s global strategy on how to connect with a new generation – at the best moments and with the right products and comms.

  • Narrated Galleries

    We love films, but narrated galleries – fusing showreels of still images and audio of participant commentary – creates outputs that allow for high levels of reflection and audience empathy. Ideal for user experience work, in other words

  • Crowd Communities

    We’ve a wealth of experience at setting up and managing communities for clients, with learnings on how best to engage audiences and a full box of tricks for maximising what we get out of the work – including geo tagging, streaming in social media data and a mobile optimised platform

  • Pinterest

    We’ve used Pinterest to really good effect on a number of projects recently, helping us to explore differences and commonalities among different typologies in areas such as fashion and style, home, holidays and entertainment. Engagement levels with participants always rank high, and clients love the vividness and clarity of the findings.

  • Citizen Journalism

    Citizen journalism works on the principle of making reporters of our participants, briefing them to capture what’s happening in the lives of their friends and family via video dispatches and blogging. It gets us places where we can’t otherwise get. It bypasses the bias of having a researcher in attendance. People are often more accurate reporters on those around them than on themselves, so that’s another bias circumnavigated.

  • Network Audits

    If you want to really understand how people interact with those around them, it’s logical to research interconnected groups of friends, family and work colleagues. First developed as part of our award winning word of mouth research for Guardian News & Media, and since then refined and reconfigured across a range of global projects, our network audit approach helps us understand who’s influencing who as authentically as possible.