The Distilled Series: 3 – Expanding Reality and our Breakthrough ‘Hunting Grounds’

01 May 2024 Innovation Tequila Don Julio

In December 2023 Diageo launched ‘Distilled’, a foresight report that sets out the most pressing consumer trends facing brands today. Each month, Diageo will focus on one of these trends and see how this business has been delivering innovative solutions to align to it.

From spatial computing to artificial intelligence, find out how Diageo’s Breakthrough Innovation team is test & learning new technologies to give today’s consumer engaging new ways to experience our brands.

Regardless of geography or sector, technological and digital transformation is essential today to unlock the full potential of brands. Diageo has seen with the likes of ‘What’s Your Whisky’ and ‘Message in a Bottle’ that digital innovation not only adds incredible value, but importantly gives the modern consumer new and exciting ways to interact with brands, even those that are hundreds of years old. This ‘Expanding Reality’ trend will increasingly redefine how consumers experience life, and I’m so excited to see how Diageo’s Breakthrough team shapes this future of celebration in a digital-first world.

Benni Lickfett

Global Head of Breakthrough Innovation – Digital

From office life to how people socialise, the rapid adoption of digital infrastructure has blurred the boundaries between the online and offline. Daily interactions between consumers now span the digital and physical worlds seamlessly, with Diageo‘s inaugural consumer trends report ‘Distilled’ highlighting that discussions around technological advancements rose by 94% between 2021 and 2023.

This is a trend we labelled ‘Expanding Reality’, and driven by topics such as AI-enabled relationships and high-tempo digital experiences it’s a movement that brings boundless opportunities for brands to enhance everyday life. So if Diageo is to shape the future of social celebration, we know we must take a lead and shape consumer trends such as ‘Expanding Reality’, with our innovation function at the forefront of this commitment.

‘Elli’ is Seedlip’s virtual concierge that uses AI to allow consumers to learn about all things Seedlip, cocktails, and gift ideas.

Core innovation at Diageo predominately builds ideas in-house using current capabilities, with recent successes including the launch of Smirnoff Electric Guava in Mexico and ‘The Cocktail Collection’ in GB. However, to be a truly innovative company we need to be at the edge of our comfort zone, with our recently launched Breakthrough Innovation team on a journey to find new and exciting ways for consumers to love our brands in this increasingly digital-first world.

With its experience and diversity stimulating creativity, Diageo’s end-to-end Breakthrough Innovation team will rapidly test and learn platforms under three main themes, or as the team is calling them, ‘Hunting Grounds’. These provide the basis of what will guide the team, with each entertaining a consumer, and society, that is increasingly digital-first. But what are the ‘Hunting Grounds’?