Editor’s Note: While many brands are leveraging first-party data to inform ad targeting strategies amid signal loss, scotch whisky brand Dewar’s is relying on social media—specifically Meta—to find new audiences. CM sister pub AdExchanger shows how Dewar’s has built and segmented communities through social media and evolved its media mix.
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With signal loss on the rise, many advertisers are giving first-party data more of a shot.
Not scotch whisky brand Dewar’s, though. (In this case, “whisky” is the correct spelling – “whiskey” with an “e” is used for Irish and American varieties.)
While Dewar’s has access to its own internal sales data, for the purposes of ad targeting it mainly relies on social media to find its audience.
The scale of a walled garden like Meta allows Dewar’s to reach audiences based on affinity while obeying age-related alcohol advertising restrictions.
“We’re really careful as an organization to be super compliant when it comes to first-party data,” said Laila Mignoni, global VP of marketing and creative excellence at Bacardi, which owns Dewar’s.
Changing course
Targeting self-identified whisky drinkers has proven effective, of course. But so has targeting fans of golf, given how much the two audiences overlap.
“The link between pure Scotch whisky and golf really goes back to its origins, to Scotland,” said Brian Cox, VP of Dewar’s for North America.
What’s more surprising is that golf, one of the only viable options for pandemic socializing in 2020, continued to grow long after the end of social distancing.
To read the full piece, head to AdExchanger.
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