Challenges

What were the problems — both client proposed and Insite identified — that the client needed solving?
— what was the big picture need in terms of moving the needle

• established mainstream brands have decades worth of audience trust, loyalty and routine that would need to be broken

• established spirit brands and suppliers have well established emotional and financial relationships with their licensees that form the basis of the licensee’s business wellbeing so destabilizing this relationship with a “replacement” product would be next to impossible without significant investment in those relationships as well as marketing support — investment that the startup did not have

• audiences at the time weren’t interested in nameless, untried new brands — the trend was to celebrate established legacy brands

• the LCBO was resistant to listing new spirit brands/suppliers without a track record and clear marketing strategy and budget

• the LCBO would take a significant margin, upwards of 60% of listed bottle price, so the low price discount approach to the product would mean sharing already low margins, making the strategy impossible below significant case volumes and sales

• taxation for Ontario and Canadian spirits was high

• protectionist taxes and regulations were in place in Canada to defend existing Canadian legacy distilleries from entrants to the market, such as a mandatory 5000L still — the result meant huge investment to enter the distilling game

• visibility for new brands in Canada was difficult with very few accessible mediums for promotion as well as relatively strict regulations that control how spirit brands can promote and gain visibility and access to audiences for trial

• the Dillon’s ownership was a small and inexperienced team and were not ready for running a business that relied heavily on distribution and conventional trade/ licensee management efforts

• a distillery business based on strictly selling spirits at low volumes was not looking viable when considering the huge capital investment for the startup and potential slow cycle to sales growth

Our Approach

What did we imagine as a path. What did we see as their value and purpose. What audience did we identify. How did we contour the client to fit the needs and desires of that audience. What depth of brand did we create?eg.:

• we strategized that we could carve out a new Canadian spirits category called “craft distilling”

• define this category by creating standards and definitions for craft around which the brand, business and product would be built so that Dillon's by definition would be synonymous with craft, and other brands would need to genuinely satisfy all definitions or not be seen as craft

• build the business, brand and products around a number of defendable core ideas — craft, low hand produced volume, transparency of process and ingredients, local ingredients, seasonal ingredients, seasonal spirits and sustainability, experimental — (authentic, indie, transparent, craft, local, seasonal.)

• create the brand, business and products around these ideas instead of the conventional industry approach of the opposite

• tell a compelling and truthful story of the brand through the ideas, ensuring that every product was idea forward ahead of the practical feature aspect — emotion before function

• targeted an audience that cared about craft, locality, passion, authenticity, transparency, learning, engagement, people in place, sustainability

• informed the existing craft audience that they were missing craft in spirits and that it was possible, while also converting non-craft minded audiences to the ideals and value of craft

• relate to the audiences that craft was a richer, more valuable experience that would bring like minded passionate people to the central point around the brand

• extend the invitation to female audiences who had traditionally been excluded or alienated by conventional male focused branding and product creation in the spirits landscape — by dropping stereotyping, imaginary male oriented product focus, dated male imagery and vocabulary

• bring the craft option direct to the licensee staff and mixologists, circumventing the owners and status quo — by offering an honest craft alternative that the industry could be proud of in their craft and storytelling, as well as by creating a culture around craft that they could participate in and feel seen and celebrated

• find a way to communicate the brand outside of conventional alcohol channels and audiences — by encouraging the brand to produce a line of bitters that could be sold in food retail, boutique decor and gift stores and other venues and which would introduce the brand and speak of the cocktail alignment and craft acumen of the brand to audiences that would not normally engage in a spirit brand

• find other products that similarly reached beyond spirits to meet consumers that weren’t yet brand adopters — such as a disinfectant, or cocktail syrups, or pre-mixed cocktails

What we built

What did Insite create?

• a brand and brand world that connected with the target audience in a high value, meaningful and loyalty building way

• a well defined craft space in the Canadian market

• an understanding of and appetite for local seasonal spirits among the ontario market audience- a gender neutral small batch craft brand that was transparent, authentic, human, local, seasonal and sustainable minded

• an infrastructure of additional revenue that complimented and amplified the brand and messages

• strategy for multiple spirit categories that provided continuous talking points for the brand

• on site retail and experience that provided year round revenue generating focus and connection for the audience

• strategized on brand events that highlighted spirits as well as the brands connection and value to specific sub-culture groups as well as connecting the dots in the community

• a unique, fun and sophisticated spirit club that rewarded the brand’s loyal ambassadors

• strategized and designed an online world of recipes and direct to consumer sales portal that showed audiences that purchasing spirits online made sense and could be an enjoyable extension of the physical brand space

• a clear and repeatable brand guideline that could grow with the open road potential of the brand and its products and activities

What we solved

After all was completed, what solutions did we provide the client?

• how to look, speak and act with audiences that was not gender biased

• a solution for removing the product limitations that were typical for a conventional spirit brand such as a spirit brands being limited to just making vodka, or just rye etc. because audiences were taught focus meant quality

• Solved the barrier to access to licensee market by separating the brand from its big brand competitors allowing it to access mixologist’s “spare tap” and shelf spaces where others could not

• solved the general negative or down market view of Canadian spirits by earning the brand legitimacy from its alignment and adoption by mixologists and category storytellers

• a solution for getting the brand outside of conventional spirit spaces and in the hands of the right mindset but which weren’t yet craft spirit lovers

• a solution for defining and owning a product category

• a solution for a physical brand world that employees, ambassadors and audiences would love to be a part of and which would help everyone to understand the brand to be able to maintain its focus and extend its reach

Outcomes

What were the outcomes from the solutions. What did the brand achieve? 1 year, 2 year 5 year etc.

• a brand that made it to significant market adoption with substantially less investment than competitors that had come before and after

• an open road for the brand that could create any number of products without feeling limited, saturated or not making sense for the brand

• a brand that women responded to instantly well, becoming 50% of the sales with a higher representation in experiences

• forever influenced, defined the bar and changed the Canadian Distilling / spirits landscape

• influenced new and relevant categories at the LCBO such as Craft Spirits, Seasonal Spirits and Premium Prepared Cocktails

• a brand that was relatively easy to maintain its brand focus, consistency, understanding and passion over time so that it could grow without costly re-brands, communication team missteps, audience confusion and typical brand management issues

• a brand that the LCBO made space for, defined new categories and supported well beyond the typical supplier relationships

• one of the fastest growing Canadian craft spirit brands

• national reach with a growing and clear pathway in the US and other international markets

• sold to Mark Anthony Group in 2021, in the brand’s 10th year