Our strategy

The demographic and economic market drivers for the beverage alcohol sector point to clear potential for growth. Over the long term, however, growth on its own is not enough to achieve our Performance Ambition. We need to make sure that our growth is sustainable, consistent and of high quality.

Creating sustained, quality growth is not new to us. Brands such as Guinness and Johnnie Walker, which celebrates its 200th anniversary in 2020, show how the right approach to quality, brand equity, innovation and investing for the long term can build lasting value.

We focus on three key elements to help embed everyday efficiency:

1. Simplifying the business, injecting speed into what we do
2. Focusing resources on delighting customers and consumers
3. Unleashing technology, including data and analytics, on our processes to drive efficiency and insights

We are ensuring our resources are deployed where they are most effective. This means using technology and data analytics to make better, faster decisions and work in a more agile way. It also means simplifying our business so that we can liberate our teams to better meet the needs of our consumers and customers.

At the same time as freeing resources to focus on great performance, everyday efficiency enables us to generate savings that we can invest smartly.

We focus on three key elements to help embed everyday efficiency:

1. Simplifying the business, injecting speed into what we do
2. Focusing resources on delighting customers and consumers
3. Unleashing technology, including data and analytics, on our processes to drive efficiency and insights

Investing smartly means focusing on areas in which we believe investment will bring the greatest benefits: our people; advertising and promotional (A&P) spend; technology, data and e-commerce; capital expenditure; and mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

We focus on the key elements to help invest smartly:

1. Invest to grow and develop our people
2. Acquire attractive new brands
3. Spend more on A&P, more effectively and efficiently
4. Build capabilities in technology, data and e-commerce
5. Support growth with the right capital investment

We aim to reinforce the message of moderation in everything we do.

We want our people to be ambassadors and we are using the reach and influence of our brands to carry moderation messages to consumers. For example, we continued to build on the success of our ‘Guinness Clear’ moderation campaign in the United Kingdom and Ireland through television and video on demand. Further campaigns bringing home the message of moderation to sports fans were run by Bundaberg, Captain Morgan and Crown Royal.

Our goals for positive drinking:

1. Change the way the world drinks for the better
2. Lead the industry in reducing underage
3. Empower our people and brands to advocate moderation

Our inclusive and diverse culture is central to our purpose of ‘Celebrating life, every day, everywhere’. At the same time as being a moral imperative, having the best and most diverse talent drives innovation and commercial performance. We know that to be one of the best performing consumer products companies we need to leverage the broadest range of backgrounds, skills and capabilities, and create a fully inclusive, high-performing culture.

We want to shape broader societal change by promoting equality and an inclusive culture through our brands, in our industry, across our value chain, and in the communities where we live, work, source and sell.

We focus on three key elements to help champion inclusion and diversity:

1. Foster the creation of an inclusive culture
2. Promote equality of experience for all employees
3. Champion inclusion and diversity beyond our business

By showing leadership and by working with others, we aim to contribute to the delivery of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the critical decade of action leading up to 2030, while giving our business a platform for sustained quality growth.

While the Covid-19 pandemic has delayed the launch of our full strategy for 2030 until later this financial year, it has also emphasised how important it is that we address issues that matter to our stakeholders and strengthen our business, deepening our connections with communities.

Building inclusive, thriving communities that work for everyone is key to this. It requires us to be global champions for water stewardship and vocal advocates for a low-carbon world. It also means going further in exploring circular economy approaches, so we can make more drinks with fewer materials.

At the same time, we aim to be more efficient, to reduce our costs, to build a more secure and resilient supply chain, and to attract and retain the best talent. Ultimately, this will help drive the trust, respect and commercial success that define our Performance Ambition.

We focus on four key elements:

1. Support thriving communities where we live, work, source and sell
2. Build sustainable, resilient supply chains
3. Champion water stewardship and a low-carbon world
4. Minimise waste and develop circular economy solutions