Diageo’s New Global Breakthrough Innovation Team Brings Spatial Computing to Don Julio Campaign
Spirits company Diageo, parent company to brands like Johnnie Walker and Guinness, is elevating its Por Amor campaign, featuring Mexican tequila Don Julio, with spatial computing technology that allows users to immerse themselves in the world of agave spirits through Apple Vision Pro.
The effort is being led by Sophie Kelly, global category director of Tequila for Diageo, and the company’s new Global Breakthrough Innovation Team, a subsidiary within its current Innovation function that launched early this year, with the goal to shape innovation “beyond the development of new products.”
Diageo’s Global Breakthrough Innovation Team
Formed in January, the team, led by global breakthrough innovation director Guy Middleton, previously general manager of innovation for the company’s Asia Pacific region, will move away from a focus on product innovation, instead investing in platforms and new business models that “will provide transformational value for the future of Diageo, consumers, and society.”
The team has three core functions which include facilitating new tech and platform launches (such as Diageo’s AI-powered “What’s Your Whisky” experience); helping to shape Diageo’s portfolio of brands; and progressing the company’s Society 2030 10-year ESG action plan.
The group will also be collaborating with industry partners through a test-and-learn approach, such as with Diageo’s Accelerator program, “Fusion by Diageo,” which was co-developed with leading innovators.
- Also read: Diageo Transforming Captain Morgan and Smirnoff Distribution With Circular Packaging Strategy
Middleton said in a statement that the team will stretch Diageo’s thinking beyond “today,” which may introduce a little discomfort. The team’s goal, however, is to “test, learn, and ‘de-risk’ new ideas, ensuring the future breakthrough innovations that move into the core of the business are less susceptible to potential threats and are more effective at driving Diageo forward.”
Tapping Apple Vision Pro as an Experiential Tool
Kelly tells CGT that spatial computing is a new medium for the company and its brands, and it will help bring global audiences closer together to the world of Don Julio and modern Mexico.
“As with everything new, of course, there will be learnings, so we’ll be watching closely,” she said, adding that the technology uses immersive, digital content to deliver an experience that was once limited to physical brand homes, visitor centers, and physical activations.
Apple Vision Pro will bring 21-plus-aged consumers through brand founder Don Julio González’s tequila-making journey in 1942, touching on harvesting agave, baking the piñas, distilling the liquid, and aging the tequila.
The company has plans to expand the experience to provide virtual guided tastings and mixology demonstrations.
This is Diageo’s first brand to leverage Apple Vision Pro technology. Other companies have jumped at the opportunity to tap into the new headset technology. e.l.f. Beauty, for example, launched an experience where consumers can purchase select e.l.f. products via Apple Pay and interact via stretching exercises, guided meditation, and an interactive “Paint by Numbers” game.
"The technology behind Apple Vision Pro is an exciting new frontier that empowers us at Diageo to further our commitments to be cultural disruptors and provide industry leading experiences for our fans around the world," said Middleton in a statement. "We're excited to be amongst the first companies to adapt this new technology, enhance the way people discover our brands, and help shape the future of immersive storytelling."
