The Tennent’s Mutual.
I led a comprehensive strategic review of Tennent’s music programme, which had shown signs of stagnating with younger consumers. The outcome was the most significant and innovative change to the brand’s music association in almost ten years with the launch of a groundbreaking initiative called The Tennent’s Mutual.
The Tennent’s Mutual was designed for music fans to create, control, and enjoy new live music in Scotland, by joining an active community of music fans who would contribute to discussion and decisions to determine the who, what, where of gigs, and set the ticket price. The significance for music fans was ownership by switching control from promoters to the people, creating an opportunity for anyone to participate in shaping the live music scene in Scotland.
The development of The Tennent’s Mutual energised Tennent’s music-association for a new generation, and created opportunities for the brand to develop a consumer relationship that was founded on co-creation and community, working together to create new live music,
I led the briefing process and worked in partnership with the creative agency to develop the concept, and had overall responsibility for securing brand investment and internal approvals, and executing the launch with a new interactive digital platform, marketing and PR strategy, planning and delivery of live events and the fan/consumer experience, and evaluation.
Within weeks of launch over 7000 music fans registered as members at tennentsmutual.com and voted on all key decisions to determine how Tennent’s seed-funding of £150,000 was to be invested in a season of live shows – they collectively influenced which artists played, where the gigs happened, and set the ticket prices. All profits were re-invested in the Mutual collective to continue planning more live music events.
In its first year, The Tennent’s Mutual delivered affordable and accessible new live music across Scotland that saw 28 artists perform at 13 shows from Fort William to Dumfries. The impact on the brand was positive and Tennent’s saw top 3 box brand consideration increase by 6% amongst those aware of The Tennent’s Mutual.
