Case Study | International Alcoholic Beverage Brand

CHALLENGE

The North American marketing and insights team at an International Alcoholic Beverage Brand with a portfolio of more than 50 premium brands, recognized in 2021 that they needed to significantly rethink their approach to marketing to diverse America. They also recognized that the change from mainstream-focused messaging to a culturally authentic and connected approach would require a strategic shift in mindset, extending not only across the organization but also into channel partners.

SOLUTION

The Brand joined Collage Group’s Multicultural Cultural Intelligence Program to obtain the always-on support, education, assessment and data they needed to launch the strategy to more authentically engage America’s diverse consumers, using the following steps:

1) Assess the Cultural Fluency of key brands to evaluate performance gaps and identify where they needed to build new marketing competencies.

The process began with an assessment of brand performance using the Collage CultureRate:Brand measurement process. Embedded as a part of the membership service, the tool enables brands to rate where they are versus competitors and diagnose where they have the biggest opportunities for improvement.

The Alcoholic Beverage Brand evaluated the Brand Cultural Fluency Quotient (B-CFQ) of six brands and six direct competitors using CultureRate:Brand. B-CFQ measures how brands are resonating with consumers, combining six key cultural dimensions: Product Fit, Relevance, Memories, Values, Trust and Advocacy. Each of the component scores can be broken out and compared to competitors across demographics, and then linked to unique insights from the Collage Group database to help close performance gaps.

Further, the Brand used Collage Group’s Four-Stage Cultural Fluency Maturity Model to evaluate their own organization. As a result, they have been able to identify a set of organizational actions needed to put them on a path to reach Stage IV, the highest level of maturity.

2) Identify which cultural audiences to target.

Through CultureRate:Brand, the Brand was evaluated on the Brand Cultural Fluency Quotient (B-CFQ), which measures how well brands are resonating with consumers. It assessed the Brand along six key cultural dimensions: brand fit, relevance, memories, values, trust and advocacy. The B-CFQ Threshold then helped illuminate whether the Brand’s B-CFQ score was high enough to lead to increased brand favorability and purchase intent.

3) Meet the target market where they are.

The Alcoholic Beverage Brand then moved to creating their marketing campaigns and strategic targeting. They called on Collage Group’s consumer essentials and cultural traits framework, which explains the fundamental elements of multicultural consumers. This entails understanding a number of components, including the size of the audience, where these consumers reside, the various demographics, and the economic aspects.

Further, Collage Group advised that when pursuing marketing efforts toward specific buyers, the Brand needed to understand the nuances. For example, there are very subtle distinctions between Mexican Americans and Cuban Americans that are especially important in regard to authentically connecting with both cohorts.

These insights were then combined with internal tools for communication, program inspiration and design, resulting in the creation of campaigns to test, learn, and launch. In these creative executions they worked to ensure they had good representation of diverse consumers in their ads.

They doubled down on showing up at key cultural moments, such as festivals, where people want to socialize and celebrate, and they integrated cultural nuanced messaging and language into point-of-sale materials. Further, they focused on forging relevant partnerships, for example, for a tequila product, the Brand partnered with a Major League Soccer team.

DELIVERABLES & NEXT STEPS

The resulting Collage Group deliverables included the CultureRate:Brand report, the evaluation of organizational competencies, guidance for prioritizing multicultural audiences for targeting, and a plan to engage Multicultural consumers in culturally relevant and authentic ways.

Overall, Collage Group helped the International Alcoholic Beverage Brand build empathy with curated insights and optimize brand positioning through culture nuance. The Brand succeeded in creating culturally fluent processes and capabilities across the organization, which allows this leading Alcoholic Beverage Brand to authentically connect across multicultural consumer segments resulting in better brand positioning and higher ROI for marketing dollars.

Ultimately, the International Alcoholic Beverage Brand is on a multicultural journey. They are committed to “inspecting what [they] expect,” and driving continual learning, progress and stronger brand performance. Annually, they will call on Collage Group’s CultureRate:Brand assessments to see how they’ve moved the needle, and repeat the process to continue to succeed on their journey to Cultural Fluency.

In a glowing testimonial from the Brand’s Insights Director, he stated:

“Our relationship with Collage Group is a true a partnership. Our “best in class” Multicultural insights are only as good as the rich fuel of information, insights and advice that come from the Collage Group team!”

Collage Group is pleased to be their partner in the Cultural Fluency journey.

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