How a film transformed Johnnie Walker’s prospects, with Stephen White, Diageo

Our guest on this episode of The Persuasion Game podcast is Stephen White, Senior Vice President, North America at Diageo.

He is an expert in transforming teams, brands, innovation pipelines and businesses and has spent years working in different markets, all around the world, doing just that.

Stephen shares stories and learnings from across his 20+ years leading teams at Diageo including: brand turnarounds; managing global and local dynamics; and transforming underperforming teams.

One example Stephen shares is how a short film starring Robert Carlyle helped reframe the iconic whisky brand Johnnie Walker “we spent the amount of money we would've spent on an external film, on an internal audience, we then subsequently had 9-10 years of consistent growth.”

Johnnie Walker “The Man Who Walked Around the World”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ6aiVg2qVk

Episodes are released bi-weekly. Follow us on LinkedIn for updates.

Subscribe to The Persuasion Game Newsletter on LinkedIn.

Want to know more about us? Visit our website here: thisistheforge.com

This is an 18Sixty production for The Forge.

CHAPTERS:

(00:00) Introduction

(03:00) Key Innovations at Diageo

(09:32) Building Trust and Empathy

(14:29) Breaking Down Organisational Silos

(20:31) Leveraging AI and Future Trends