As an integral part of night culture, Jägermeister has always been dedicated to the mission of giving its fans the best nights of life with emotional live experiences. But in the wake of the pandemic, it was time to rethink. Because not only millions of concert goers, club guests and night owls have suffered from the massive restrictions, but above all those who make a living with celebrations of all kinds. Jägermeister reacted quickly to this circumstance and launched various measures to save the night culture.
about-drinks spoke to Kathleen Schied, who is responsible for the strategic and operational brand management of the Wolfenbüttler family-owned company, about the current campaigns and about the duty Jägermeister sees itself as a partner in the catering and nightlife sectors in view of the situation.
Tell us something about yourself: What position do you work in at Jägermeister? How has your path in the spirits / beverage industry been like so far?
Kathleen Schied: I have been in charge of Marketing at Mast-Jägermeister Deutschland GmbH since November 2019. In my role, I am responsible for the strategic and operational brand management of the most successful German premium liqueur and the associated portfolio. I drive the marketing transformation journey and advocate that brand building, insights & performance marketing belong together and form the best growth hack. For the past 13 years I have worked in leading positions at the CAMPARI Group, both globally and nationally.
Jägermeister is at home in over 150 countries. Can you say how high the share of sales is in the catering trade – worldwide and in this country?
Kathleen Schied: This varies greatly from market to market, depending on the stage of maturity the brand is in there. But generally Jägermeister is a brand that is at home in the nightlife – our global mission is to give our consumers the best nights of their lives inside. Therefore, the on trade is a very important universe for us.
Jägermeister has been supporting gastronomy in Germany for many years. Why is Jägermeister the perfect partner for nightlife?
Kathleen Schied: With Jägermeister you celebrate and seal the community, you toast with your friends with our ice-cold shots to celebrate special moments of the community – goodbye, the best move on the dance floor, goals achieved together and much more to help them get better at To keep memory. This is our connecting element – because creating and celebrating unforgettable moments is what unites us with all our gastronomy partners.
The last 1.5 years were suddenly completely different: The nightlife in bars and clubs simply didn’t exist any more. What effects did and does the pandemic have on Jägermeister?
Kathleen Schied: The pandemic has made it necessary to rethink many areas – and a lot of new things have emerged from this! Jägermeister was and is a brand with enormous live power. Whether at big festivals with our tools that have been around for years, such as the top dog, or at our music events in urban clubs and bars, for which we bring trendy acts to our stages: Our strength has always been to give fans highly emotional live experiences that bring people together. All of that broke away from one day to the next due to the pandemic.
We reacted very quickly and launched measures such as our #Savethenight initiative, which on the one hand aimed to support nightlife and all its players such as artists, bartenders, club owners and event organizers. On the other hand, we offered our consumers exciting entertainment via digital channels and also transferred our promise to give them the best nights of life for free.
In view of this situation, what “duty” does Jägermeister see as a partner for gastronomy and nightlife?
Kathleen Schied: Not only because nightlife is very important to us, but also because real partnerships with the catering industry are important to us, it goes without saying that we support our catering partners directly with individually tailored support packages during these difficult times . The most important thing here was certainly to maintain direct contact remotely and not to make anyone feel that we would forget them.
You have launched various measures to save night culture – including the #SAVETHENIGHT initiative. What is it about?
Kathleen Schied: As a brand, we have been networked with the music and nightlife industry for around 20 years and have implemented countless partnerships with artists, event organizers and restaurateurs. It has always been important to us to work together credibly over the long term. So it made sense to give something back in the special time of the pandemic. That is why we launched a global initiative in 2020 with #Savethenight to save the nightlife community, which is existentially particularly hard hit by the lockdown. With a mix of donations and creative and conceptual support, we were able to help quickly and easily. All activities came and will benefit the bartender & club community, artists and creative people.
How has the initiative gone so far and what goals have you already achieved with it?
Kathleen Schied: In Germany alone, we have given more than € 1 million in support to those involved in nightlife. #savethenight was developed to support both sides of the nightlife: artists: inside, creatives and bartenders whose livelihoods were affected by the crisis on the one hand, but also those who had to stay at home instead of in clubs and bars with friends To have fun. The initiative bundles various measures such as donations that we have made, for example, to the DBU and the Club Commission Berlin so that they can be donated to those in need, microfunding for artists, creative online entertainment such as “Meister Drop-Ins” or “Meister Classes”, as well the support of partner projects such as paynowdrinklater or unitedwestream. As you could see in various posts from those affected, we received an extremely positive response and a huge amount of gratitude.
But that was just the beginning. The current, global continuation of the Savethenight campaign, which is being rolled out in over 50 markets, will once again support countless creative people around the globe and give them the opportunity not to be forgotten despite the performance bans. We’ll start with it in Germany in mid-October, so we can’t reveal that much about it today.
In the Europe-wide campaign “Be The Meister” you are concerned with the “Masters of the Night”. Who are these “masters” for you?
Kathleen Schied: In the campaign, we focus on different people from the nightlife who, with passion and a certain persistence, question the status quo and open up new perspectives. They are people who set an example of what constitutes real community in the sense of Jägermeister: it is genuine, creative, inclusive and open to everyone who wants to make the nightlife better for themselves and for all of us. From our point of view, these characteristics give them a master’s status. They can be artists, but also all those who keep the ecosystem of the night alive.
In a first phase of the campaign, we gave up-and-coming artists the opportunity to discover and promote their talents, and in a second phase we direct the spotlight on the masters behind the masters, i.e. everyone without whom nightlife would not even be possible and who have suffered particularly from the lockdown. Because unlike artists, they could not fall back on the lever of popularity to get support.
What do you want to achieve with the campaign?
Kathleen Schied: It is an appeal, an appeal! We want to get people excited: on the one hand, to celebrate those who are already committed to the best nights with their ideas; on the other hand, we also want to get them to be creative themselves. Because everyone has the potential to be a master of the night and to shape the nightlife in an individual way.
Together with the Fantastischen Vier, Jägermeister started the initiative “Masters of the night: tips are part of the campaign”. Why is the topic of tips currently more important than ever?
Kathleen Schied: Tipping has always been important. Because countless people work hard behind the scenes to make the best nights possible, but which are often not seen at all. With our campaign “The night needs masters – tips are part of it” we want to give a stage to precisely those who are not otherwise in the limelight: the masters behind the masters, for example bouncers: inside who ensure security in the club, counter staff who Serving perfect drinks or taxi drivers who bring guests home safely after a night of partying.
Ultimately, we owe our best nights to them, because without them it would be dark and quiet at concerts, for example. For this they deserve recognition, thanks and appreciation. So that it doesn’t just become another “thank you campaign”, we have decided to incorporate a direct support mechanism for consumers: via the website trinkgeld-ghört-plus.de everyone can actively donate in different ways. The incoming money goes to the non-profit association “Alarmstufe Rot eV”, which supports people in need from the catering and event industry with immediate aid.
When asked critically: Wouldn’t fairer wages in the industry put the topic of tips into perspective a little?
Kathleen Schied: It is true that wages in this sector are often low. A topic that we as a society have to work on as a whole. With our idea we do not claim to solve this problem. But we can help by showing how important it is to tip and, above all, everyone can do their part. If only everyone who went out gave a 10-15% tip, not only would you have shown appreciation for good service, but you would have made a difference.
How can you support as a consumer? There is also a special edition, for example …
Kathleen Schied: Right. We offer options on different levels: if you go out, you can immediately think of giving a tip. But even if the pandemic makes going out more difficult, you can take action: via the aforementioned website trinkgeld-belongs-to-de, which enables a direct donation, or the purchase of a “supporter bundle”. This consists of a special limited edition bottle of Jägermeister and a sweater, both with a special design that was developed together with the Fantastischen Vier and that draws attention to the situation. All proceeds go to Red Alert! In addition, everyone in the trade can say thank you to their friends by purchasing another edition with a thank you label, who ensure successful party evenings in their private lives.
What are your wishes and hopes for the next few months in terms of gastronomy, the afterlife and the people who work in the field?
Kathleen Schied: Of course, we wish for ourselves and our customers that we can leave the pandemic behind us and find ways to live with it. We hope that the nightlife can become what its real purpose is again: a cultural meeting place without fears and worries, in which freedom, creativity can be lived and in which one can celebrate the community. Because all of this is systemically relevant because it helps to keep society together and to set new impulses.
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+++ We would like to thank Kathleen Schied for the open and very interesting interview and wish us continued success! If you have an interesting brand too, then we should talk. Simply send us an email with the subject “about-drinks Interview” [email protected] – We are looking forward to your contact! +++
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