Drinks Association Chair, Ralph Dunning hosted drinks at the Kirribilli Club in late October following a day of meeting and planning for the Drinks Association and its members as the year’s end approaches.
It was an early start at the last Network Breakfast for the year with a full room in attendance to hear CGA’s James Phillips, Client Solutions Director – ANZ, and Scott Elliott, Managing Director: Asia Pacific, presenting the latest insights for the Australian On-Premise, derived from CGA by NielsenIQ’s best-in-class consumer research, and sales analysis solutions, exploring how On-Premise trends have shifted in Australia post-pandemic – and how these trends compare to the global recovery of the channel.
Elliott had just arrived from the UK, coming to Australia especially for the presentation and to launch the new BeverageTrak service to industry.
He said: “The on-premise: it's really the place where we build brands, we build emotional connection to brands and when you look at the experimentation and trial that happens in this channel, there is no other channel like it.
"Thirty-six per cent of consumers say they actively go to the channel to experience new brands. One in four people are happy to trade up if you can persuade them to do so. And three out of five people say the brand experience in on trade influences their purchase in off trade."
Following breakfast, the Drinks Association and its Board Members gathered welcoming three new Board members to the table: Lion’s Kerry Appathurai, Coopers’ Andrew Cooper and Pernod Ricard’s Glen Scarlett.
Lead by Council Chair Sandra Gibbs, the Embrace Difference Council’s team of more than 40 from across 15 drinks companies workshopped the best ways to move the Council forward and to advance its ambition to further the drinks industry as a diverse and inclusive career destination of choice.
Gibbs said, “We spent a great two hours getting to know each other and harnessing the power of collective through leadership in this space, along with lived experiences within the industry. It was a really powerful session and we are looking forward to taking Embrace Difference forward as a whole team is a stronger sense of purpose.”
Over the Harbour Bridge in the Pernod Ricard offices in Barangaroo, the HRD Forum gathered to review the work of the Embrace Difference Council and discuss the International Women’s Day event for 2023 when Dr Jana Pittman will present to the industry on Wednesday, 8 March.
Newly formed Industry Resource Group Pride in Drinks also presented to the HRD Forum. The group is the work of passionate industry professionals, all committed to driving continued visibility of the of the LGBTQ+ community in the drinks industry. Bacardi, Brown-Forman, Campari, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Asahi Beverages, Diageo, Lion and Taylors Wines all have representatives in the Pride in Drinks’ ERG.
At the Chair's Drinks in the evening which wound out the day, Dunning thanked all guests for another progressive year in the Australian drinks industry which continues to recover, especially in the On-Premise. He paid special thanks to CEO Georgia Lennon, General Manager Rachel Wormald and their team.
He also thanked the Drinks Association’s Corporate Partners - Advantage, NielsenIQ, BevChain, GS1 and StayinFront - and its Commercial Partners - Hip Media, Serendis, SKUVantage, and Shopper Intelligence - as well as Associate Members for their ongoing support.
See the photo gallery from the event here.