Barfly were engaged to help inform and direct the future global serve strategy for Jim Beam Kentucky Bourbon. The commercial aim was clear: to lift and invest in the brand with an on-premise strategy that played in to a different and more refreshment led space than is traditionally associated with US whiskey. In doing so, the strategy needed to be complementary to the aim of creating a credible and attractive break from beer for consumers.

Our global approach included a significant number of senior stakeholder interviews within the Beam Suntory business across several markets as well as with bartenders and on-premise operators. Stitching together a strategy that allowed for variations in brand and category status across the US, Europe and Asia was a challenging and ultimately hugely rewarding task.

The scaled roll out of the ‘Jim Beam Highball’ followed and is being implemented across those key markets supported by a suite of serves, consumer activations and trade engagement programs that target relevant sections of the on-premise community.