Corby Spirit & Wine

CASE STUDY Corby Spirit & Wine A big, competitive company who’d lost their creative spark, worked with a small but mighty training company called Combustion to reignite their potential. Founded in 1859 (and now part of Pernod-Ricard International) partners was at an all-time high while original thinking and Corby Spirit and Wine Limited is a storied Canadian distiller that inspiration were at their lowest. They were, to quote Paul Holub, creates and sells some of the world’s fave brands like JP Wisers, VP of HR, “stuck in a rut”. Absolut Vodka, Jameson Irish Whiskey, Glenlivet and Lambs Rum. But its not just spirits they excel at; Corby’s also been Beyond mindset, these issues were also starting to impact named one of the 50 Best Workplaces in Canada for the last their bottom line. Lack of risk-taking was translating into stale 5 years. Sales and profits were consistent, and as of December advertising and failure to stimulate sales. “We live in an incredibly 2015, all was relatively fine with the world. competitive environment,” Maxime said, “Constantly fighting for people’s attention. If you’re not interesting enough, you have But something was eating at the Executive Team. Maxime a low chance of cutting through the noise.” Leadership worried Kouchnir, Corby’s VP of Marketing, had noticed a creeping that the talent they wanted to attract and retain might reject stagnation. Sure sales were OK, but they weren’t growing. The an environment that could be perceived as limiting. And time culture was becoming increasingly cautious and un-collaborative. spent hashing and rehashing problems with no new solutions Big ideas were fewer and farther between. Reliance on agency was costing real money. “Combustion modeled the very behavior that we would demand of ourselves - transparency and vulnerability, energy, and passion. They’re on a mission.” Maxime Couchnir, VP Marketing, Corby 1 CASE STUDY: CORBY A Decision is Made With senior leadership support, Maxime decided it was time to we sure know how to do that. “Combustion modeled the very take steps to stop this creative culture erosion in its tracks. He behavior that we would demand of ourselves,” Maxime said, wrote an aspirational manifesto entitled “Creativity with Impact “transparency and vulnerability, energy, and passion. They’re Permanent Training: Enhancing Corby’s Marketing Capabilities on a mission.” Leslie Ehm, Combustion President & Chief Fire Through Mindset Change” and set out to find the ideal partner Starter agreed. “With Corby, we saw a partner who was all in to make it happen. Research and reputation led him to us at on their commitment to change. We fell in love with them and Combustion. Corby truly wanted someone to “wake them up, their vision from the get go.” call them on their bullshit and keep them on their toes” – and The Combustion Solution Our solution was to create a progressive training program creative thinking workshop C-Lab™. Here they learned designed to embed and permanently change thinking and shared process, language, and confidence around creative behavior while super-skilling for self-sufficiency. We knew problem solving. Their individual ThinkStyles™ were also that creative culture change could only work if leadership assessed and revealed to help them better collaborate. and teams are on the same page so inclusiveness was going Next was a highly facilitated workshop around Fuelling to be key. And only through honesty and transparency were Creative Culture where their OCQ results were revealed. we all going to succeed. The first step was to administer They were able to dig deep, work as teams and be super our Organization Creativity Quotient Assessment (OCQ). honest in accepting their creative ‘extinguishing points’ and This gave us an honest read of what people were feeling using the skills, language and processes learned in C-Lab™, and thinking around their current culture of creativity. From work towards solutions. A new focus, vision and mandate there, we could later address their unique challenges and were set. “This is so much more than training,” according refocus their goals – all in a bullshit-free zone. to Corby CEO Patrick O’Driscoll, “That was the catalyst that knocked down obstacles, ignited discussions and inspired With the OCQ results on lock, we then moved 50 participants fundamental change in the way we create, innovate and from Marketing, Finance, Operations and Leadership lead at Corby.” through sessions of our renowned 2-day foundational 2 Marketers Up Their Game We then turned our focus to transforming Corby Marketers development, brand storytelling, agency partnership and more. into the fiercest and boldest champions of external and And it worked. Margaret McKellar, Senior Marketing Manager internal creativity. We wanted to lessen their reliance on Innovation affirms, “We use the tools from the workshops every agency partners and help them confidently own their ideas, day. From the briefs we write to the framework for strategic executions and creative destiny. So for the next 6 months, we insights, it’s changed the way we manage our agencies and trained them on everything from creative brief writing, insight really elevated our level of discussions with them.” “This is so much more than training. That was the catalyst that knocked down obstacles, ignited discussions and inspired fundamental change in the way we create, innovate and lead at Corby.” Patrick O’Driscoll, CEO, Corby One Year Later... Fast-forward one year and Corby’s quest for a culture of creativity is well on its way. From ThinkStyles proudly posted on cubicles and office doors, to boxes of C-Lab™ session materials accessible everywhere, creative problem solving best practices and rules of engagement displayed in meeting rooms, and ideas posted in shared areas for quick “yes and…” contributions, the environment alone proves the shift. Kayla Campbell, Director, Human Resources Commercial & Talent says, “C-Lab™ has become our default way to solve problems here and ‘yes and…’ our common language.” Stuart Shapiro, Corby’s Senior Business Intelligence Manager highlights the changes, “Before the program we all worked in silos with no collaboration and no big ideas. Now it’s this environment of continuous improvement, we’re having really productive conversations, and we’re far more collaborative.” 3 CASE STUDY: CORBY What other evolution has How has this impacted occurred as a result? Corby’s day-to-day business? • Minds have been opened to each other and to bold ideas • Employee engagement has risen 20-25 points over the • The C-Lab™ process is the default for solving problems previous year and coming up with new ideas, creating a “safer space to • Within just the first three months, the C-Lab™ process own the problem and solution” was used on a dozen different internal creativity sessions • Constructive push-back now is expected and welcomed, resulting in a significant boost in Marketing and HR especially with leadership initiatives • Collaboration has increased exponentially • Two new brand experience programs that were • Ideas are now bolder and people feel free to build on them developed with the new process are being rolled out for • Time is now invested in trying to get to the real problem. market testing • People are seeking problem root cause instead of • A new digital agency was confidently chosen to co-create jumping to solutions and support new branding for a key product group • Communication has become more positive with “yes • The desire for more transparency and communication and” taking place of the dreaded “no / but” inspired the launch of regular of Director / VP level • Launch of a cross-discipline Creativity Council tasked lunches, office hours, and regular town halls with keeping creative discussions and process alive • The physical office has evolved to support more creative • The Marketing team now feels they’re getting the best spaces out of their agencies “We use the tools from the workshops every day. From the briefs we write to the framework for strategic insights, it’s changed the way we manage our agencies and really elevated our level of discussions with them.” Margaret McKellar, Senior Marketing Manager, Innovation The Future Looks Bright While still too early to know the long-term effect, Corby leadership confidently predicts these changes will result in increased sales and market share. So proud of their endeavors, a full page of their 2016 annual report was dedicated to their continuing commitment and growth around a culture of creativity. Even more importantly, Corby recently updated their company values to Empathy, Creativity, Collaboration and Boldness – all reflections of the learning and evolution during time spent with Combustion. “It’s a big shift for the says Chris Bhowmik, Brand Director for Canadian Whiskey. company. Empathy and creativity are new words to our lexicon “Combustion’s training worked – it stuck to the ribs as an and because of that I feel I have a green light to be myself.” organization because we learned by doing.” 4 CASE STUDY: CORBY Corby Commits to A Creative Future As Corby moves into 2017, they recognize the need to keep fundamental and substantial change in metrics like employee flexing their new creative muscles, building their skills and engagement. Corby is becoming an even better place to pushing the boundaries even further. Combustion will be work.” Maxime gets the final word: “It wasn’t easy. It was an there to feed their fires with fresh new learning because as intensive program…and not just

Load more