Intro [00:00:00] Welcome to the Taylor Ten, a fast paced, ten minute deep dive into the minds of those shaking up the marketing world, bringing you the sharpest insights, boldest ideas and breakthrough trends driving the industry forward. So tune in, get inspired, and stay ahead.

‍Maeve Hagen [00:00:16] Hello. I am Maeve Hagen and welcome to the Taylor Ten. I'm here with Tracy Doyle, at Brands In Culture, SVP at Diageo to learn as much as I can about the importance of brands showing up in culture in an authentic way in only ten minutes. So, Tray, thank you for joining me today. It's great to be here with you.

Tracy Doyle [00:00:37] Thanks for inviting me to do this. I'm really excited.

Maeve Hagen [00:00:45] Well, let's jump into it. Really hard core, right to authenticity. And you know how brands can show up in an authentic way. So let's first define it. What does it mean for a brand to show up in culture authentically, and how can it resonate with audiences today, in your opinion?

Tracy Doyle [00:00:57] Yeah, it's I mean, it's interesting, right? Because when you think about just the word itself, I guess not just a noun, it has to be a verb. It's not about just what you say as a brand, but it's how you act, it's how you show up. So I think that we need to make sure that we're engaging with consumers and communities in a way that is genuine, that is transparent, that aligns with our brands core values, because that's truly the way that we're going to ensure how we can remain relevant, but also create those meaningful connections with consumers. And I also think that we need to stay attuned to cultural trends, to social shifts, which really means just understanding what matters most to consumer sand then how we are reflecting those values and our brand messages and activities. And then of course being purpose driven and demonstrating that commitment, whether it's to social, to environmental causes. You know, for us at Diageo, that very much includes responsible drinking. And we actually just launched a campaign this past month in partnership with the NFL, with Mothers Against Drunk Driving and with Uber, just to remind people that importance of taking a minute and making a plan. So you're smart about how you're getting home from those sporting activities.

Maeve Hagen [00:02:19] Yeah, absolutely. And because consumers can really sniff it out when a brand isn't being authentic, right?

Tray Doyle [00:02:25] Never underestimate like how smart people are and never lose that sort of filter when you're storytelling, when you're thinking about where and how you're going to show up, because they will absolutely see right as we would, you know, like we're consumers, too.

Maeve Hagen [00:02:41] From a cultural insight standpoint, you know, what role do you think this deep understanding of sort of some of those cultural nuances play to ensuring authentic engagement, you know, deep understanding of consumers? ‍

Tracy Doyle [00:02:55] Yeah. I think it's making sure that we're engaging them. Again, it's back to that word authenticity. But through authentic storytelling, sort of like we we were just saying it's it's storytelling that's going to resonate with our values, with our interests, like with our overall lifestyle. I mean, I just I think it's critically essential. And in order to do that and to do it right, it involves leveraging the right data and the right insights to really be able to understand those consumers and their behaviors and their preferences. And I think also just remembering from a sheer like consumer standpoint, that culture is so often ignited within the heart of local communities. And when you're able to create sort of that brand experience, if you can root it in that local tradition, then you're going to drive that heightened relevance, that positive impact, you know, and that just that strong, like real emotional connection with your audience.

Maeve Hagen [00:03:50] Yeah, absolutely. How do you think that brands can really build and maintain that trust when aligning themselves with cultural moments or conversations? I mean, trust is so important these days between a consumer and, you know, how it's driving their purchasing decisions. And obviously the dollar isn't going as far as it as it has in the past. So building and maintaining the trust is going to be even that much more important as we go into 25. So how can a brand sort of maintain that. ‍

Tracy Doyle [00:04:20] It's so much bigger than just where your product is or what your service is. So it's a it's about making sure that we're mindful about who we are and what we stand for in order to engage in those conversations that are going to truly resonate with our brands, like our missions, our value and our purpose. So it's really like trust is a two way street and without trust, like we're never going to get there with our consumers or consumers are never going to continue back with us. Trust is an ecosystem unto itself.

Maeve Hagen [00:04:52] One thing that we always tell I love to do is just look for inspiration in the marketplace and just see what other brands are doing or, you know, how they might be engaging and showing up in culture in ways that either might be expected or unexpected. So, you know, in your opinion, what is an example of a brand that you feel like is doing it successfully these days. And let's define successfully as organically and in a meaningful way. ‍

Tracy Doyle [00:05:23] Well, I'd I'd be remiss not to talk about one of our own brands. So for me, I think Johnnie Walker has been a beautiful example of a brand who has consistently and again, back to the word authentic but authentically integrated itself in a culture in a very meaningful and positive way. Johnnie Walker, as a brand, stands for progress. And within that, just recognizing and celebrating those first strides that it takes to to meet that progress. And, you know, the thinking is without a first stride, you're never going to have a second, a third or fourth. So progress onto itself is very foundational to the brand. Whether Johnnie Walker is meeting a moment in culture or they're making a moment at culture. So to like double click deeper, we as a brand, we were a founding partner of the Angel City Football Club, the women's soccer team. They're the first women's soccer team in L.A. And we wanted to do more and be more than just a sponsor of the team. We wanted to be alongside of them and creating those first stride moments for the football club. So as part of that, we actually worked closely with Angel City to create their team. And then we worked with Grammy winning artist Brittany Howard and songwriter. Her name was Tia P, and we created this this beautiful song called Running with the Angels. And we worked with the football club to create the lyrics and lyrics that were really meant to celebrate those first strides, achievements and moments for the team. And now still, like this anthem is still played during all of the home games. So it's just a nice reminder and reinforcement every game for those women that they're going out there and they're making firsts every time they're on that field.

Maeve Hagen [00:07:17] One for me that that I feel like you can't turn around right now and not see it is what Wicked has been doing. It's a movie. It's a it's from a movie house. It's, you know, it's, you know, universal sort of, you know, pushing this entity as opposed to, you know, a more traditional brand as we might consider it. And so when you think about Universal and Wicked sort of courting more than 400 corporate brands to get involved in this, and I mean, you can't you can't turnaround anywhere on social media, on TV and out of home events. I mean, influencers, it's it's it's wild. It's it's everywhere. And I think they're doing a very interesting job of showing up in culture in a mostly authentic way. And some might argue in a maybe too aggressive way, too exposed. But I would say they've got the goods to back it up for sure.

Tracy Doyle[00:08:13] Yeah and I mean more partnerships that, to your point, are all extremely relevant. But more than Barbie had. And you know speaking of Wicked, I don't know if you follow Gary Janetti on social media, but when you think about just a brand, you know, if we consider Wicked a brand being embedded in culture, I think it was two weeks ago he had a posted  that said"The only thing holding the country together right now is Wicked".Like what a beautiful like meme moment that, you know, just reinforce the power of positivity with the Wicked brand.

Maeve Hagen [00:08:53] It's really amazing. And just pulling at every lever of that cultural sort of framework and sort of every aspect of how, you know, people, you know, absorb their information these days, whether it be through online or social media. I just I feel like they are everywhere and they now have the the sales stats to back it up.

‍Tracy Doyle [00:09:18] Yeah, exactly.

Maeve Hagen [00:09:19] I can't believe how fast ten minutes goes. I feel like we could talk about this all day, but in the last, you know, 10 seconds. What's one trend that you are you're looking forward to or you think might come as we get into to 2025, what's one thing you've got your eye on?

‍‍Tracy Doyle [00:09:37] Well, if I had a crystal ball. Storytelling, like with substance. It's going to be"I need to have" not "a nice to have" people same as like we want other people to be real with us. They want the same thing with brands.They want brands to be real and reflect real brand values, not just like over polished, fluffy narratives, you know, and in a kind of comes back to where we started that ongoing consistency between what a brand says and how it behaves.

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