Global Brand Domination in 6 minutes 27 seconds

In order for you to fully “participate,” you must first watch “The Man Who Walked Around the World.” Your choices: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnSIp76CvUI (especially if you need subtitles in order to understand someone speaking in a Scottish brogue) or you can go directly to the Johnnie Walker website, www.johnniewalker.com/en-us/home/. I’ll wait.


Done?

An entertaining dram of corporate history, something that at first glance you might shrug off as a longish commercial. Closer study, however, reveals a blueprint on how to achieve global brand domination.

The story of John Walker and the creation of the Johnnie Walker brand of blended Scotch Whisky is a study in entrepreneurship, global brand management, founding a successful family business that evolves into a legacy business, and packaging.

Category Killer: Young John Walker opens a grocery store with the proceeds from the sale of his late father’s farm. Among his wares, locally distilled single malt whiskies. Fretting about inconsistent quality and selling an inferior product to his customers, he mixes a number of single malts and creates a blended whisky. And in doing so, an entire industry is born. As with any new category, competitors abound.

Controlling critical links in the supply chain: John Walker brings his sons into the business, and already at the pinnacle of the industry, the family buys the distillery at Cardhu, securing their own supply while denying this particular “silky single malt” to their competitors.

Create customer evangelists: After dominating local markets the company casts its sights on the world by enlisting the seafaring captains of Glasgow to act as its sales force.

Unique shelf-friendly packaging: In order to reduce breakage and save space, the whisky was packaged in a square bottle, and the tilted label offered a larger type for the name. This unique packaging earned shelf space, always a concern for those who sell products to retailers. Although the word has been used to the point of being trite, the Johnnie Walker bottle is truly iconic.

Updating the brand and expanding the offering: The grandsons updated the label by asking a young illustrator to sketch the famous walking man seen on every bottle of Johnnie Walker. They also expanded the product line: Red Label and Black Label.

Omnipresence: The market expanded to 120 countries and even more labels (Green Label, Gold Label, and Blue Label) were introduced, widening the appeal while creating cachet value. More importantly the brand weaves its way into the fabric of society.

Messaging: Look at the presentations that Steve Jobs makes at Apple. Not a PowerPoint slide to be seen. No bullet points. Images. A message told in images. Visually this short film is stunning, and technically it’s quite breathtaking. Actor Robert Carlyle delivers his monologue walking in the Scottish hillsides in a single-take. Every prop appears when needed, giving visual punch to his story. There’s even a bow to the master of the long, extended film shot, Alfred Hitchcock.

Carlyle walks through the centuries, the tale spanning nearly two-hundred years. Walking purposefully. The traits of the entrepreneur also span those two-hundred years, and longer. A single-minded focus, courage, being able to see beyond today into tomorrow, creating a vision, achieving what others think is impossible, ambition…all are as necessary today in business as they were in 1819 Kilmarnock.

All this from the decision to create a consistent product to meet customer expectations.

A family business that becomes the most recognized brand in its category. Now that’s a story to “stir a Scottish heart,” and the American one as well.