Getting to Know Guinness’s New U.S. Head, Rodney Williams
Source: Diageo
I met Rodney Williams last spring when he came for a short visit to Portland. About six months earlier, he had been named President of Diageo Beer Company and Diageo Canada. It was a good time for him to take the wheel—Guinness has been trending upward in an industry full of bad news, and the company was about to open their second US brewery and restaurant. I immediately saw why Diageo hired Rodney, too—he has rare experience that will help position him to lead a division in an industry beset by challenges.
With the recent debut of the Open Gate Brewery in Chicago, it seemed like a good time to hear his vision for the US’s most unusual big beer brand. I sat down with him via Zoom last month and he outlined what he saw as the difficulties and opportunities in the beer industry today, and how Guinness might be poised to take advantage of them.
Background
Rodney Williams has an impressive resume, and with this posting will complete his rotation throughout the major beverages in the drinks industry. His career started with stints at GM, Proctor and Gamble, and Johnson and Johnson before he had an opportunity to get into alcohol. “I worked in wine in Napa and Sonoma for Robert Mondavi, before and after we were bought by Constellation,” he told me. It was a serious transition, and he had to figure out not just the business of wine, but its gustatory elements. This became a theme in his career, and he is currently on the James Beard Foundation Board of Trustees.
From there, he spent nearly eleven years at Moët Hennessy. He did a bunch of stuff there, but in particular he was in charge of building the company’s brands in the U.S., and eventually became the president and CEO of Belvedere Vodka. As the drinks industry fragments and consumers become increasingly fickle, this experience will help him see a larger playing field.
Right Where It Wants to Be
Rodney seemed like the right guy for the job in another way as well. “I was born just a few miles from where the [new Guinness] taproom is,” he told me. “I also went to grad school there, so I have long had a great affinity with the City of Chicago. It’s been nice to see the ways the city has continued to reinvent itself. Going all the way back to the great Chicago fire, it’s also a model for the American spirit of reinvention.”
Still, he admits he didn’t have a deep sense of Guinness when he took the job. “Like many people, Guinness was only top of mind around St. Paddy’s day.” Getting people to take note of Guinness outside of March is always job one in the US, one his own experience prepared him for. “You don’t need to wear a red beret and have a baguette under your arm to drink a glass of Champagne, and you don’t need to wait until St. Paddy’s Day to drink a Guinness,” he said. Indeed, in many places, the brand has far more year-long durability. “The exciting thing is that Guinness has become the number one draft pour in Great Britain,” he added. “So we certainly see that we have a great deal of runway here in the US.”
His background in the drinks business has given him a broader picture than many people in just one segment have—and it also gives him a fresh perspective on beer. He started out with the demographic challenge. “Younger consumers have a larger consideration set in terms of the brands that are their go-to. When I was in my 20s, you had maybe five or six brands.” But he pointed out something I’ve noticed as well—this isn’t a beer problem, it’s an everyone problem. Food, media, consumer electronics—in every part of our lives, people have more choices.
Rodney traced this to changes in cuisine. “The openness to various foodstuffs has opened up habits for younger consumers. They get exposed to more kinds of foods than [my generation].” They’re more adventuresome and more open to new products—but they’re also less loyal to one brand or even one kind of beverage, and there’s some evidence they drink less than past generations. Interestingly, he even sees an advantage there.
In the narrow world of craft beer, super-strong beers are selling well. But that’s not the pattern more broadly. “Think of younger consumers, Gen Z, are drinking in greater moderation. That’s probably a good thing for purveyors of quality products that consumers want to savor. Guinness is only 4.2% alcohol, only 15 more calories than Bud Light.” The beers that have flourished nationally—Mexican imports, Guinness, the slight but grown N/A segment—track to national trends.
Beyond that, Rodney sees huge potential in the brand in terms of marketing its incredible story. “To some degree we’ve overplayed the Irishness in a way that’s not helpful,” he said, referencing the once-a-year moment people tune into the brand. He mentioned the many elements of the brand that transcend one holiday—the stories, like the 9,000-year lease, all the history, the theatrical element of the pour—all of which are ripe for retelling.
Even the beer itself is what he called a paradox, and he seemed to find that compelling as well. “It looks heavy, but it’s light. It looks unsessionable and it’s incredibly quaffable. You think it will taste one way by looking at it and then are pleasantly surprised.” These would typically be difficulties in selling a product, but in a field of yellow lager and intense, strong craft beer, it gives Guinness distinction.
Rodney sees the Open Gate breweries as a way to highlight these elements of the brewery, beer, and brand. He explained: “Baltimore factors into that in different ways. Consumers today are more interested in experiences than accumulating things. Baltimore being, a very expansive site, really does lend itself to traditional experiences, where Chicago, in the restaurant center of the city, really helps forge that connection between beer and food.”
As we wound down the conversation, Rodney was bullish about Guinness despite all the news. “What I can bring from my prior experience is a sense of storytelling, and that sense of affordable luxury. To have a pint of perfectly-poured, fresh Guinness is really a treat. Luxury doesn’t have to mean you’re spending a hundred dollars a bottle. It can be just the quality of something done very well, and Guinness represents that.”
I don’t speak to many executives of big companies, but he seems surprisingly unguarded and enthusiastic about the company he leads. I think that can only be a good thing.