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Diageo CMO Syl Saller: ‘Global campaigns shouldn’t compromise to meet everyone’s desires’

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By Seb Joseph, News editor

June 23, 2015 | 4 min read

The risk of a global campaign is when brands compromise so much to meet everyone’s different desires that they end up with below-par creative, according to Diageo’s chief marketing officer Syl Saller.

Speaking at the Cannes Lions festival, the top marketer at the world’s biggest alcohol business by sales said global campaigns can still thrive in today’s world of hyper-localised marketing but only if there’s a mesh of the big idea and the strategic implementation.

That blend can drive synergies and economies of scale while serving local needs and cultural considerations – like with Johnnie Walker’s the ‘desire to progress’ and how the business has tasked Anomaly with coming up with a new way of making the ethos relevant worldwide.

“There may be different executions and different ways of doing [the global campaign] but its really hard to surpass a big insight when you find it,” said Saller. “So you’re not spending all your time looking all over the world for bitty things that won’t matter to people in the end.”

Naturally, Diageo’s marketers pay close attention to local cultures and nuances when managing their brands but it’s never at expense of the global idea. “We think of it as a big global idea that’s dipped in local pan that has that twist that really makes it resonant," said Saller.

This approach was accelerated last year when the business pulled the localised marketing in areas such as Africa and Asia into global management or ceased activities there altogether as part of wider cost cutting exercise.

“If you look at Guinness; if we had tried to get one idea that could run across the US, the UK and Africa then I don’t think we would have been successful. But by taking a big idea around ‘Made of More’ and giving it that local twist then it works.”

The decision is part of a wider £200m efficiency drive aimed at realigning the business around six sales and marketing areas for growth. It has led to Diageo ending localised marketing activities in emerging markets to focus on more streamlined global initiatives. The company has already been driving savings around its media spend.

Since taking on the CMO role in 2013, Saller has set to work introducing a back-to-basics marketing approach whereby there’s a stronger focus on distribution and fewer but more insight-driven campaigns across its brands. Her response to the company’s ongoing efforts to strip out costs to the tune of £200m per year has been to bring its marketing and sales closer together through a more efficient and creative use of media.

“Creativity is everything for [Diageo],” said Saller. “You don’t go around advertising the functional benefits of alcohol. What you drink says an awful it about who you are and the way in which we bring that to life and how it touches consumers in an emotional way is what we know sells.”

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