We believe there is a shift from organization-led brands to brand-led organizations. How do you perceive and/or how have you responded to this shift? What are the challenges and opportunities inherent for Jack Daniel’s?

We believe that great people build great brands. Being a brand-led organization is part of our DNA because that essentially means we’re a people-led organization. Our people take pride in our culture of care which in turn comes through in how we care for and steward our brands. At the end of the day, consumers know us through our brands, so we’ve considered ourselves a brand-led organization for generations.

Jack Daniel’s plays a key role in the portfolio and financial performance of our parent company, Brown-Forman Corporation. From driving innovation to amplifying responsibility to advancing diversity in distilled spirits, Jack Daniel’s leverages its position as the leading global whiskey to move our industry forward.

Fortunately, Jack Daniel’s has been relevant with consumers and in pop culture for decades. As new consumers reach legal drinking age, Jack Daniel’s must continue to enrich their lives just as we’ve done for previous generations. Some may see this as a challenge, but we prefer to take this on as an opportunity to uphold our incredible legacy while boldly challenging expectations.

In uncertain times, we routinely see that strong brands outperform their peers in the market. As we look to 2023, how are you prioritizing the brand?

A core element of Jack Daniel’s long-term strategy is to build meaningful difference and we remain committed to that. We know that a meaningfully different brand is resilient in uncertain times and times of crisis and that it, ultimately, has the ability to outperform its competition.

Two years ago, we launched a new global campaign idea – Make it Count – that continues to deliver positive results across brand, behaviour and commercial metrics. This gives us great confidence that the campaign is working against delivering long-term brand-building and growth.

We continue to reallocate our resources towards long-term brand building, specifically investing in broad-reach media to drive penetration. We have doubled our media spend as a reflection of that strategy.

We continuously seek new and exciting ideas, initiatives, and partnerships to generate consumer engagement and excitement around the brand – see question 5.

We know that a meaningfully different brand is resilient in uncertain times and times of crisis and that it, ultimately, has the ability to outperform its competition.

We believe that brands increasingly compete for time and wallet-share with a broader group of brands and threats outside of your traditional category. With this in mind, how has your competition evolved over the past 24 months? How has the emerging popularity of cannabis brands (like Houseplant or Monogram) impacted your competitive set, if at all?

We’ve certainly seen the evolution of non-traditional competitors entering the ready-to-drink (RTD) space, including those that are completely new to beverage alcohol. As consumer preferences shift, it’s not surprising to see new and existing players innovating to capture share. We see this as an indicator of a healthy industry and marketplace as well as a driver for our own innovation pipeline.

Competition for wallet share will continue to increase as we prepare for global economic challenges and we must continue to be relevant to lead within those purchasing decisions. With the legalization of cannabis in some markets, we continue to monitor that industry for insights and opportunities while also understanding the key differentiators in our products and the experiences they create.

How is the business and brand responding to emerging consumer shifts away from alcohol consumption?

We see two emerging trend. First, premiumization driven partly by consumers drinking less but drinking better. Jack Daniel’s and its broad family of brands is very well positioned to capture these occasions and provide solutions at multiple price points. Secondly, the growing focus on Low/no beverages. Once again, we’re well positioned with our RTD portfolio – providing consumers with ready-to-drink cocktails – to address some of the low alcohol trends that we are seeing.

Regarding Jack Daniels’ partnership with McLaren, you’ve noted, “Entering the fast-growing world of Formula 1 with McLaren Racing aligns perfectly with our vision to make Jack Daniel’s the most iconic spirits brand globally.” Tell us more about how recent moves – including this one, as well as Jack Daniels’ recent activity in the metaverse – propel you closer to this global vision.

This partnership with McLaren’s Formula 1 team presents an unrivaled global platform to amplify the presence and prominence of the world’s most valuable spirit brand with nearly 1 billion fans worldwide. Our globally iconic brands share common values, and we’ll use this partnership to elevate our responsibility commitments to directly combat drinking and driving.

We also recently announced a global agreement with Coca-Cola to launch the iconic Jack & Coke cocktail as a branded RTD. Jack & Coke is the #1 branded bar call in the world and we are now delivering it to consumers in a convenient and portable format. With the RTD category booming, we will meaningfully expand our presence in the pre-mixed cocktails category through “Jack Daniel’s & Coca-Cola” and “Jack Daniel’s & Coca-Cola Zero Sugar.”