Dewar's Brand Repositioning

Dewar's Brand Repositioning

Dewar's was faced with a declining market among traditional Scotch whisky consumers. In addition, long-term consumption trends indicated that drinking preferences had shifted from distilled spirits to lighter, lower alcohol beverages. Though Dewar's had a favorable brand image and growing market share, repositioning Dewar's to younger adults was very necessary for the brand to remain competitive in the long term. Dewar's must take an appropriate repositioning strategy in order to create a positive brand's image appeal to younger drinkers without abandoning its current customer base.

I believe that Dewar's should take an integrated approach combining the maintenance and the repositioning campaigns in order to take advantage of its past achievements, avoid confusion, target both old and new market segments, and fit for budget constraints.

Firstly, Dewar's had made significant achievements in its past advertising campaigns and it should take this into account in its new campaigns. The main competitive positioning strategy that Dewar's used was to emphasize quality.

English: Dewar's products in a shop.

English: Dewars White Label Blended Scotch Whisky

Dewar's Logo

Scotch is considered high-end liquor, and Dewar's is thought of as a premium brand. Dewar's positioned itself to have a sophisticated and mature image and during the 1980's ran two advertising campaigns to emphasize the high quality of Dewar's. The Profiles campaign focused on lifestyle and the type of individuals who drank Dewar's. The Legends campaign emphasized Dewar's Scotch heritage. Both of these campaigns were successful, and it was concluded that Dewar's customers valued the fact that Dewar's appealed to tradition in the Legends campaign but achievement in the Profiles campaign. The campaigns showed Dewar's to be prestigious and reinforced the brand choice of loyal users, increased overall awareness, and helped to gain the attention of other Scotch drinkers.

Secondly, there was high risk of confusing and alienating existing users if run the maintenance and repositioning campaigns independently. Consider...