Before she founded gin brand Pomp & Whimsy, Nicola Nice spent 20 years advising alcohol companies on how to better connect with their audiences. The sociologist and brand strategist has consulted on spirits innovation for some of the largest global producers including Diageo, Bacardi, and Campari. She’s also known for her research on the role of women in cocktails, and her forthcoming book rewriting the story of women and the cocktail will be published in spring 2024. In 2019, Forbes named her one of the top women running the liquor world, and in 2022 Wine Enthusiast named her one of the Future 40 leaders of the industry.
We caught up with Nice about how entrepreneurs can get ahead of trends, where they can identify their audience, and why misconceptions about women and spirits are hurting brands. Answers have been edited for clarity and length.
As someone who has spent over two decades in consumer insights and brand strategy, what advice would you give to beverage alc entrepreneurs who might not have the access larger companies have to big data?
Using data to drive informed decision-making is essential for any business owner. We often look to big data to show us how fast a category is growing or where consumer purchasing is being directed. But there are two main drawbacks for the small business owner when it comes to relying on big data. The first is that it is extremely expensive. Even if you are able to afford access to syndicated data or large off-the-shelf reports, the chances are that so are your competitors. Unless you have the raw dataset, you are unlikely to be able to derive insights or trends that will give you a real competitive advantage. Secondly, when a trend shows up in big data the chances are it has already happened. By the time you are able to respond to it commercially it will likely already have passed or the market will be saturated with everyone jumping on the bandwagon. You must be able to get ahead of trends before everyone else. This is where qualitative data comes in.
How can those entrepreneurs also get ahead of trends?
The basic difference between qualitative data and quantitative data is that the purpose of qualitative data is to help you understand the why behind an emerging trend, while quantitative data will help you understand its potential size. Want to know the next big drink trend? Don’t wait for the big market report to come out. Instead, go out into the field yourself, talk to bartenders and watch what people are ordering. Big data will only tell you that a trend exists, it will not tell you where it came from or where it is going. Deep data allows you to join the dots long before something is even “a thing”.
What are ways smaller companies can gather qualitative data and what’s the importance of that kind of deep data?
The good news is that qualitative data is everywhere and super easy to collect so long as you are being thoughtful and consistent with how you do so. Broadly speaking there are two principal data sources to use – observational data and participatory data, both of which can be collected both online and in-person. Online data can be gathered by observing customer reviews, social media comments, DMs, feedback forms, and then supplemented with solicited data from things like online polls and email surveys. As well as watching customers on our phones and computers, we can also gather data in real life whether that’s in stores, in bars, on distillery tours or at brand sponsored events. If a consumer at your next events seems especially engaged, maybe invite them back to your distillery for a focus group interview to get to know them better and probe their experiences more deeply.
Armed with all this rich data, you are then in a strong position to go to a retailer or distributor and present the insights behind your consumer. Being able to convincingly demonstrate who the customer is, how they shop and what motivates them is not just a competitive advantage for you, but for the retail buyer also. This will put you in a much stronger position to secure that all important shelf space, or menu placement.
What mistakes do entrepreneurs make when trying to understand their target audience? What’s the difference between a target audience and a consumption audience?
The three most common mistakes I see brand owners make are, firstly, thinking that their consumer is just like them. While it’s true that many entrepreneurs first conceive of a new product or brand because of the issues they themselves have been experiencing as a consumer, it is both misguided and dangerous to assume that everyone else must think like them too. Secondly, the opposite mistake is to assume that your target audience is everyone. If you think your target audience is everyone, then it is also no-one. And finally, many fall into the trap of thinking that anyone who engages with their brand on social media must be their consumer. This is wrong on so many levels and has to do both with the way social media works but also the way the awareness, purchase and advocacy funnel works. All brands have a consumption audience (i.e. people who consume your product) and a core target audience (i.e. people who have a deep connection to the brand). The core target is usually a subset of the consumption target and is whom all your brand communications should be focused on.
You’ve done a lot of work to bring the female consumer to the forefront of the spirits industry. Are there still misconceptions about women spirit consumers or how to reach them?
Absolutely there are! There are still very few brands that really put women at the heart of their DNA despite the fact that women control 70% of household spending on liquor. I have heard every excuse under the sun, from women drinking less often than men and therefore being less valuable consumers, to women preferring wine over spirits and cocktails, and even women leaving it to men to decide what they should be drinking. All of these attitudes are at best out of date, and at worst, patently wrong – and there is all the data in the world to back it up. Any retailer who has successfully attracted female customers into their store will tell you that the value of their business goes up dramatically as a result. It’s about time that brands started thinking the same way because there is a lot of money to be made from taking women a lot more seriously in this industry.
What’s been the evolution of Pomp & Whimsy and what are your future plans?
The Pomp & Whimsy brand has been on the ascent since we first launched in 2017. After the success of the Gin Liqueur and its many awards, last year we added a Dry Gin to the lineup and have been blown away by how well received it has been received so far. Given the David and Goliath funding challenges of this industry, our hope this year is to team up with a like-minded partner who shares our values of diversity, sustainability and responsibility and work together to build Pomp & Whimsy with other innovative brands to their full potential.