What Do You Think Of When You Think…Whiskey Drinker?

This is Lemmy Kilmister the founder,  Lead Singer,  and Bassist for the heavy metal band Motorhead.  He is a self proclaimed rocker that lives the rock-n-roll lifestyle.  This includes a fifth of Jack Daniels a day, his chosen drink.  And frankly this is an image that has been hard for JD to shake.  They are trying, but when you think JD, you think Rocker, Biker, bum, drunk, general naredowell.  I would argue that this stereotype is generalized to many Whiskey drinkers.  They are either deadbeats or cowboys in the old west or both!  So what have the whiskey producers done to try and shake this negative stereotype?  Well, a lot of companies really arent trying to do anything about it, because they know that this is just one demographic that buys their product, but their market includes these guys as well as the twenty somethings, soccer Moms, corporate CEOs and school teachers.  In other words people from all walks of life enjoy their product, and the bad boy image doesn’t hurt, and might actually help their sales.

Well Jack Daniels may have given up trying to do anything about their stereotype in America, but it is a different story in Asia…

In Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, and across Southeast Asia Jack Daniels has launched their “Friends of Jack”  marketing program.  So the future of Jack Daniels might look a lot different than their present face.  A far cry from the grizzled face of John Wayne or Lemmy Kilmister.  For their sign up, what do these ladies get?  Well they get yet another card to stick in their purse officially designating them as a “friend of Jack” which entitles them to a bunch of promotional merchandise and events across SE Asia.  I’ve got to believe that the marketing they use in Asia is quite a far cry from anything we might see, as I already have about fifty different cards that clog up my wallet and suitcase for my various travel rewards clubs etc.  A “Friends of Jack” card would never see the light of day in my world, but perhaps the concept is “fresh” in Asia.

So the next time you think of “Whiskey Drinker”, after the vision of Hells Angels shooting indiscriminately in the air during a fallen Biker’s funeral clears your head, perhaps the vision of a bunch of fun loving twenty something Asian Ladies will enter in, and begin to change the face of the stereotype.  At least I think JD might be banking on that.

-Don

I’d like to credit some of this content to e-clubbing.com from their coverage of the Singapore Friends of Jack sign up event.