The world’s largest premium drinks company joined up with Join the Dots to improve its on trade presence in Africa, in particular in Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana and Cameroon.
Diageo’s most recent interim results show that its overall net sales in Africa grew +2% on the previous six months and Gavin Holt, senior client director at Join the Dots spoke to DI about the project.
“Africa represents a huge market opportunity for Diageo,” said Holt. “It has 54 countries and a population of more than one billion people, a lot of which are between the age of 18-24.
“The research strategy has been to go straight to the mobile community to gain data insights and uncover drinking habits, bar trends and prime target ages.
“One of the issues which Diageo faces in Africa is that local brands can advertise and even launch a product in around three months, which makes it difficult for Diageo to stay on top of trends and insights.”
The mobile research undertaken by the Manchester-based researcher includes people’s drinking habits, product testing, concept testing and bar visits.
This research then allows Diageo to better understand young adult African lives to make better business decisions routed in local culture.
Holt added: “The main focus for Diageo is on beer, whilst also exploring the RTD and whisky markets.
“All research projects are designed with the intent of collecting natural behaviors and feedback, ensuring it’s also engaging for this hard to reach audience.”
Through a combination of leading edge technology and imaginative approaches; Join the Dots has been able to help Diageo get closer to their African consumers more than ever before.
