Diageo launches Johnnie Walker Double Black line extension into travel retail – 12/01/10
Published: 12/01/10
Source: ©The Moodie Report
By Martin Moodie
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Classy double act: From Black to Double Black
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INTERNATIONAL. Diageo Global Travel & Middle East (GTME) today announced the test launch of a key new deluxe variant of Johnnie Walker Black Label – Johnnie Walker Double Black.
The new companion blend to Black Label is being unveiled as an exclusive test in global travel retail at a selection of leading international airport locations. The one litre bottle of Johnnie Walker Double Black will retail at a +15-20% price premium to Johnnie Walker Black Label.
Johnnie Walker Double Black will be tested at six leading international airport locations (Bangkok, where it is already on shelf; Dubai; Beirut; New York JFK; Singapore; and Sydney) over the test period, which runs to the end of June 2010, with six retail partners: King Power International, Dubai Duty Free, Beirut Duty Free, International Shoppes, DFS Singapore and The Nuance Group.
The test launch is being supported in the stores by extensive high-impact visibility, sampling and hostess support.
Diageo GTME said that Johnnie Walker Double Black amplifies a trademark characteristic of Johnnie Walker Black Label blended Scotch whisky, notably the smokiness, to deliver a new intensity in the liquid.
It commented: “The product is an extension to the existing brands in the Johnnie Walker range, and it is aimed at drinkers who already appreciate the character of Johnnie Walker Scotch whiskies and are keen to explore that character in more depth.
“The Johnnie Walker Double Black blend is created using peaty West Coast whiskies to particularly emphasise the smoky elements that have made Johnnie Walker whiskies famous.”
Asked if the two lines would be positioned alongside one another during the trial period, Johnnie Walker Scotch Whisky Global Brand Director David Gates told The Moodie Report: “Absolutely, that’s the way we’re launching them. We want consumers to recognise that they are brothers.
“Double Black is everything you like about Johnnie Walker Black – and then some more. It has this big, smoky intensity and we will be focusing on that. The smoky glass bottle and all the support materials will really indicate that extra intensity. “
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Make mine a Black, a Double Black
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GTME Marketing Director Ellie Martin outlined the role of Johnnie Walker Double Black in Diageo GTME’s category growth strategy, noting: “Johnnie Walker Double Black is a significant example of the action we are taking to double the liquor category in travel retail.
“This fantastic innovation enhances the sophistication and exclusivity of the category’s leading brand, and we’re confident of its unique appeal to the huge number of loyal, discerning and adventurous Johnnie Walker brand followers who will welcome this great blend that expresses their individuality and provides a new experience of their favourite brand.
“We therefore anticipate that these customers will add Johnnie Walker Double Black to their regular Johnnie Walker Black Label purchase. Premium gifting is another key innovation focus for us and we are confident that the unique appeal of Johnnie Walker Double Black will drive footfall and conversion among new shoppers looking for something special for a loved one."
Martin continued: “The foundation for our category growth strategy is always the quality of our consumer understanding and insight and, through careful strategic testing of product innovations, we can deliver further understanding of the market to ensure the customer offer is optimised and sales performance is maximised for all involved.
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"Double Black is everything you like about Johnnie Walker Black – and then some more" |
David Gates
Global Brand Director
Johnnie Walker Scotch Whisky |
“The testing of Johnnie Walker Double Black in travel retail is a great start to a year in which we’ll continue to deliver exciting and sustained innovation in products and packaging to lead category growth.”
NO AGE STATEMENT BUT NO RESISTANCE, SAYS DIAGEO
Asked if Diageo expected any consumer resistance against the lack of an age statement on Double Black, Gates replied: “Because the expectations of what you are going to get are so clearly set from the pack – and when you taste it, it delivers – it never came up in the research.
"We researched it pretty broadly – in Asia, and Latin America, for example – and we feel confident. Age statement is more of a trade preoccupation than a consumer one generally.”
If the test works, we asked, what’s the big picture in terms of a wider travel retail presence and indeed a local market roll-out?
“Our assumption is that it will be successful and we will then [after the trial] hope to roll out in the rest of travel retail,” Gates replied.
“At that point we will make a decision whether to go broader than travel retail as an exclusive channel.
“However, one of the big shopper motivations in the travel retail environment is that they are looking for things in travel retail that they can’t buy in their domestic markets.
"That’s a very powerful insight for us. So at the moment we feel very comfortable restricting it to travel retail... we just want to see what happens in terms of consumer sales in these six airports.
“There will be some cannibalization of course but we think there will be a decent amount of incremental sales as well, with people choosing to buy Double Black instead of a competitor’s product or, one of each. Clearly one of each would be lovely.”
Any notions of a twin pack for gifting or even self-consumption? “We haven’t thought of twin packs but the way you have sampled it today [see tasting below] is the way we will be doing it," Gates replied.
"We will be sampling the two side by side in the stores so consumers can taste the difference.”
While packaged in a distinctive smoky grey coloured glass bottle to reflect the smoky flavour, Double Black retains the iconic branding elements of Johnnie Walker whiskies: the familiar square bottle and slanting label.
A COMPARATIVE TASTING OF JOHNNIE WALKER DOUBLE BLACK AND JOHNNIE WALKER BLACK LABEL
Hours before the launch announcement, The Moodie Report was led on a tutored tasting by Johnnie Walker Master Blender Jim Beveridge,
writes Martin Moodie
Speaking via telephone from the brand’s Technical Centre near Stirling, Beveridge suggests we start with a nosing of Black Label. He talks of the “wonderful complexity that Black Label has... there’s all those different flavours coming out of the glass.
“Now I want you to nose Double Black. The difference for me is that it takes me to Islay because it’s got that smokiness... we’ve deliberately moved onto the smokier end of the flavour spectrum.”
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The Moodie Report Publisher is led through an online comparative tasting by Master Blender Jim Beveridge
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Both of us then cut our whiskies with some water (London tap in my case, no doubt pure Scottish spring water in Jim’s).
“Now try that,” he says. “For me Black Label is all about diversity of flavour. There’s a mixture of richness and fresh fruits in there but there’s also a smokiness mixed with sweet vanilla.
“That’s the first impression but as you dig a little deeper you get all sorts of layers of complexity and all sorts of different flavours.
“Now compare that with Double Black,” he continues. “While the smokiness is there in Johnnie Walker Black Label, with Double Black it really stands out as the essential character of the blend.
“The first objective was to create a distinctive smoky style and for those who know Islay it will remind them of an Islay whisky – it’s noticeably smoky and noticeably West Coast in character.
“And then we had to craft the other whiskies around that smokiness so there was a balance.”
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The magnificent giant stills at Cardhu distillery - a core component of the Johnnie Walker Black Label blend
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“You know, just before I came on this call, I nosed and tasted the whiskies just to remind me of them,” says Jim. “Every time I taste Black Label it’s a matter of ‘Wow’; this is the benchmark for Scotch whisky for me.
“Now taste the Johnnie Walker Double Black.” As orders go, it’s not a difficult one to follow.
“It’s an Islay taste but at the same time it’s very accessible for all those who love blends.”
I ask him about the creative brief. “Actually it was pretty open,” he replies. “I was really being asked to produce a style of whisky that was a deluxe blend and in the Johnnie Walker style. I wanted a Black Label expression but one that was different.
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Johnnie Walker Black Label celebrated its 100th anniversary throughout 2009 in travel retail
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“You can go in different ways with that kind of brief and the one that worked for me was particularly about the smoke. We could have gone in a number of directions using a Black Label style as there are lots of flavours in there. But at the end of the day the one that worked best was the one that said ‘Let’s talk about smoke’.
“We had a lot of fun doing this. But we also believe that not everyone can do it. It needs the kind of stocks that we [Diageo] have got to be able to make this work. So the aim wasn’t to make something smoky so much as to make a blend that was Johnnie Walker Black Label in style but that had a distinct smokiness. I’m very fortunate in having the stocks that allow me to do that. That was the great asset I had.”
Asked about the lack of age statement on Double Black, he replies: “[As a blender] It’s nice to be free of the age statement shackles. It’s good to have some flexibility and freedom and that was part of the brief. That means choosing whiskies when they are at their best rather than meeting a particular age statement. It allows me more freedom to create an interesting blend that works.”
“I’m very pleased with it. I’m very pleased that our thinking has worked and that our consumers are giving us great signs. Overall it’s a great blend and I think it’s a great complementary blend to Johnnie Walker Black Label. They do work of one another and are very complementary.”
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