With over 90 years of history since it was founded in 1934, Jägermeister was once only known as the go-to party shots drink that every college student knew and loved — but has long since moved past this phase to expand its portfolio and focus.
It previously looked to capture a more mature audience with the launch of Jagermeister Manifest, as well as younger consumers with the Cold Brew Coffee blend, and now is specifically lasering in on Gen Z consumers with Jägermeister Orange.
“We continue to be in our orange era as Jägermeister Orange was just launched 12 months back, and we are very focused on promoting awareness about it in travel retail, in APAC and everywhere else,” Jägermeister Global Travel Retail Marketing Director Stephanie Cleary said at the recent Tax Free World Association (TFWA) APAC show in Singapore.
“It has become very clear that Gen Z’s want drinks that are lighter in ABV but still high in quality, and we have worked to capture all the characteristics they tend to prefer in this product: The taste and flavour is very accessible, the colour is much lighter than other Jägermeister products, and it is lower in ABV at 33% versus the original version which is 35% and Manifest which is 38%.”
This demand for lower ABV sprouts from both increased health consciousness as well as wanting to remain fully functional for work or sports or other activities the day after socialising.
“That said, our research shows that this does not mean that the alcohol is in that much trouble, as consumers are still going out, they still want to be social and they still want shots,” she added.
“What is happening is not so much that people are drinking less, but that they are actually drinking differently, and we in the industry need to innovate and adapt to these differences moving forward.”
That said, trending products like ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktail versions of Jägermeister products are not quite yet on the horizon for the company despite the immense growth of this category.
“There is definitely a big trend for this, but we actually see that there is still growth to be found for spirits especially in travel retail, so we will still be playing with the opportunities to be found in this space for now,” she said.
How to focus on Gen Zs
Given Jägermeister’s position as a strong legacy brand which most millennial consumers are familiar with, zooming in on just this group for innovation and evolution would probably be simpler as the firm could make a play on the emotional connection and brand recognition — but capturing Gen Z consumers is crucial to ensure its sustainability long-term.
“The major difference in marketing to these groups is that for Gen Z’s, we needed to find a way to really recruit them into the brand, and this meant making the product much more accessible compared the other botanical-heavy items we have,” she said.
Jägermeister is made with 56 botanicals, giving the liqueur its signature herb-heavy taste and aroma.
“At the same time, we needed to ensure we did not alienate our original audience, so this product still has the 56 botanicals but is blended with Sicilian orange and mandarin peel oils to make it orange-forward instead,” Cleary added.
“Focusing on Gen Z means making sure that they do not hesitate to pick up our product and try it, and only from there can we possibly convert them to the other drinks and recruiting other social LDA+ (legal drinking age plus) partners into the category as well.”
