PROJECT DETAILS:
- CLIENT: Smart Business Network
- PUBLICATION: Smart Business Chicago
- PROJECT: Cover Story / Profile
- INDUSTRY: Food + Beverage / Top Brands
- FEATURING: Bill Newlands, president, North America Beam Global Spirits & Wine (now Suntory Global Spirits)
- READ IT: “Beam Global creates a collaborative environment“
One sip of the cherry-infused bourbon blew Bill Newlands away, but employees at Beam Global Spirits & Wine (now Suntory Global Spirits) were skeptical. Through employee feedback, market research and consumer test groups, the company’s former U.S. president took a collaborative approach to new product development decisions.
In this company profile cover story for Smart Business Chicago, Newlands explains how collaboration created Red Stag by Jim Beam, the second-fastest-growing premium spirits innovation in the country.
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Award-Winning Content
This profile earned a regional SILVER Azbee Award of Excellence for individual profile writing from The American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE).
“We tried to … get input as to, ‘If we were to do this, what is the most important thing that we would have to do so that our distributors, the retailers, ultimately, the consumer will engage with it and enjoy it?’” Newlands says. “Ask the tough question of, ‘Who’s going to reject this and why?’ Therefore, you understand the objection before the objection happens. That’s very helpful because if you’re armed with an answer to an objection, you can deal with it. If it’s a surprise, it’s a very tough answer.”