• Ad Age, Monday, August 27, 2007 11:30 AM

While emphasizing that advertising is "still important," Jim Beam CMO Rory Finlay says the $2.8 billion liquor giant will be pouring all its energy into generating talk around its blue-chip brands, including Jim Beam bourbon, Sauza tequila and Courvoisier cognac.

Finlay won't disclose details, but says Beam is introducing revamped creative on about 75% of its global brands to give them more talk value. Advertising, he says, is "more about fanning the flames [of word-of-mouth]." How the move will affect Beam's estimated $100 million global media and promotions budget is unclear.

Finlay points to several past Beam initiatives he says best represented its new approach. One is boutique bourbon Maker's Mark's brand-ambassador program, which cultivates brand fanaticism by identifying and rewarding so-called "brand evangelists." He also cites a Sauza tequila promotion in Canada that saw brand workers pull a 10-foot, lemon-lime-colored couch alongside lines of consumers waiting to get into crowded nightspots.

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