Pernord Ricard - Reimagining the Consumer Journey - From Passive Consumers to Cultural Co-Creators

For Pernod’s Royal Stag pitch, building on the brand’s positioning “It’s Your Life, Make It Large,” we aimed to reach the right audience at the right moment - but through a fundamentally new lens.

Instead of treating them as passive consumers, we saw them as co-creators in the brand story, shaping how Royal Stag comes to life in culture. To make this actionable, I designed a playbook built around guiding commandments - one of which was to rethink the consumer journey. I moved away from the traditional linear model which was - stage-specific, predicated on consumer behaviour, assuming homogeneity, and driven by media touchpoints - and proposed a culture-first approach which was category-specific, predicated on human behaviour, acknowledging heterogeneity, directional in approach, and starting from consumer reality.

I designed a culture map, that traced their journey through cultural pivots, understanding how they engage, participates, and co-creates meaning with the brand - recognizing where we had the opportunity to influence their preference. This approach allowed us speak to them when and where they were most susceptible to our messaging - ensuring Royal Stag spoke authentically to a generation defining success and self-expression on their own terms.