Captain Morgan - The Mix

THE PROBLEM

How do you redefine fun
for a new generation?

Client

DIAGEO

Project Type

POSITIONING, BRAND RENOVATION, GEN. Z

Location

North America, Europe, Africa

References

captainmorgan.com/en-gb/

THE PROBLEM

Captain Morgan is one of the world’s biggest spirits brands, and a critical component of the Diageo portfolio. Launched in 1982, the brand has always stood for fun and light-hearted occasions.

But in 2022, the definition of what fun means has changed and the brand was starting to feel out of touch.

BRAND RENOVATION • POSITIONING • BRAND RENOVATION • POSITIONING • BRAND RENOVATION • POSITIONING • BRAND RENOVATION • POSITIONING • BRAND RENOVATION • POSITIONING •

THE BRIEF

Captain Morgan delivers knock-out global sales figures, but looking a little closer shows a game of two halves. For the rest of the world, the brand continues to be a success with a 10 year CAGR of +14%.

In the US, the brand drives 50% of sales in the market and yet has been flat for a decade losing share as the brand loses its cultural foothold in the next generation of LPA-24yo drinkers.

Captain Morgan is on a journey to step away from the ‘frat / bro culture’ of its legacy and move to a place in line with trends, occasions and experiences refreshing the brand for a new generation and open up the world of Captain Morgan to broader consumers.

We helped them to both understand their new audience but also to define fun in a way that was relevant to both consumer and brand and of today.

OUR SOLUTION

We worked with Gen. Z consumers worldwide to help Captain Morgan finds its spice

This work was conducted in North America, Europe and Africa. We started by understanding this audience and how their occasion landscape had shifted and how their needs and behaviours had changed as a result.

We then ran a series of workshops to help us refine the foundational insight, then to build, optimise and ultimately identify the right design route forward.

THE RESULTS

From this work, Captain Morgan have developed their overall positioning as well as their master brand pack design, innovation pipeline and creative campaigns.

The activities we were instrumental in delivering, have helped Captain Morgan increase global value sales by +9%