8O8 Drinks Company

Market

Target market

Our target market are 21-35, and both male and female. The 8O8 drinker loves music, exploring, is creative and hard working, a maverick, who appreciates that little bit extra and is prepared to go that extra mile to get it. We split our target market into:

• Whisky drinkers:

Whisky has come a long way from the first written mention of Scotch in the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, 1495. The global whisky market is the third largest segment in the global spirits world, accounting for 11.57% in 2014.
Official figures show the total value of Scotch exports totalled £3.85 billion in 2015.

The USA, the biggest export destination for Scotch, remained steady at £749 million last year. Japan was up 18.4%. Netherlands up 25.6%, Canada 15.4%. There was growth in a number of emerging markets, with Mexico up 17%, Turkey up 24% and China increasing 5%.

It may surprise some people that Scotch Whisky is the biggest net contributor to UK trade in goods. The Scotch Whisky industry supports over 40,000 UK jobs and after many years of near zero growth is expanding at historic levels. Nine new distilleries have opened in the last two years and up to a further 40 were planned across Scotland (as of February 2016). In the U.S., Jack Daniels has seen 21 consecutive years of volume growth.

• Music lovers:

The common connector between music, celebrities, bars and clubs has always been alcohol. 8O8 is capitalising on the steady growth of bars and clubs and the explosion within the electronic music scene.

There’s been a 60% increase in dance music industry revenue in the last 3 years. Electronic Music is the only genre to have shown significant growth in Google searches since 2009.

In the UK, streaming of dance music grew at a faster rate than any other genre in 2015.

Our market is looking for a Scotch it can call its own, and thanks to its deep rooted connection with music, a brand it trusts and respects.

Characteristics of target market

Blended Scotch is struggling to recruit younger consumers in many key markets and has lost much of its aspirational appeal. This is exactly where 8O8 is making its mark and as such, represents a real opportunity for the Scotch Whisky industry to make up lost ground.

Interestingly for 8O8, the opportunity to overlay the Scotch and music markets gives a big opportunity in the USA, Asia, and Europe, and capitalise on the growth of electronic music.

Across Europe, at least 1 in 7 people have recently attended a Dance Music event.

Electronic Music related events in the US are the only ones showing a YoY increase in attendance.

Tomorrowland, one of the scene's biggest festivals in the US, has seen ticket prices rise 12% pa since 2012; the 2016 edition sold in 40 minutes.

8O8 is a smooth versatile liquid, perfect for cocktails. The popularity of cocktails keeps on growing. With cocktail sales up 6.5% in 2015 (according to CGA Strategy) and spirit sales up 17%, they are a ‘must have’ for bars and restaurants. Cocktail drinking occasions are growing too. And they are not just drunk in cocktail bars and on big nights out - 10% of casual diners have a cocktail as their main drink.

Marketing strategy

Our marketing objectives are to connect whisky to a younger generation that has hitherto been relatively ignored by this category. Through our brilliant established drinks Sales and Marketing team, we have developed a likeable, credible whisky, that easily competes in versatility with the stalwart white spirits, so common to that category.

Using our music connections, we have established a strong route to market employing social media key influencers like Pete Tong. We have also established direct On Trade channels like Fabric and Ministry of Sound, that specialise in the dance scene we are targeting.

Utilising a strong online presence and social media campaigns which build our community of like minded souls, 8O8 redefines what it is to be a whisky drinker.

Named after the legendary Roland TR-8O8 Drum Machine, an instrument that revolutionised music and has become the cornerstone of electronic dance, 8O8 resonates with music lovers everywhere. Together with our excellent team, we utilise our industry connections to forge a deep relationship with the scene.

8O8 is presented in an imaginative way; the minimalist bottle - clean, simple and understated - has been designed by Mark Farrow of ‘The Hacienda’ and ‘Pet Shop Boys’ fame.

Our target audience is looking for brands that align with their values. We think winning over influencers first is key to creating an influential brand, and we expect that multi-nationals looking to acquire companies with influential international followings would be interested in 8O8.

8O8 also aims to create positive PR, sharable content, and authentic ambassadors.

8O8 is young and open-minded. There are no rules. Drink it neat or ice cold. Mix with the familiars, but be daring. It’s your choice.

Competition strategy

We do not see our direct competition as other whisky brands, but rather as the standard club classics of vodka and champagne. That said, we believe vodka is now viewed as too mainstream for newly legal drinkers in the U.S., with Smirnoff declining by 8% in the six months to December 2015, contributing to an 18% slide in overall profit.

Pernod Ricard SA said in late 2014 that its Absolut brand was struggling in the U.S.

Whisky brands that are appealing to a younger demographic such as the spiced Fireball, sold 50,000 nine-litre cases in 2009 - they now ship more than two million cases a year.

8O8 is capitalising on this new generation's desire for quality at a realistic price, with the versatility and ease of the liquid perfectly placed for the explosion in cocktail culture.

We see traditional whisky as the last of the great drinks categories to be modernised. Absolut started the trend in vodka. More recently, we've seen Hendricks make waves with gin, and Patron do the same with Tequila. 8O8 is the revolution the whisky category craves.