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June 26, 2025 10 mins

Erin and Charissa talk to Ed Pilkington, Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer at Diageo live onstage from Cannes. 

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Calm Down with Aeron and Carissa is a production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
I'm Carissa Aaron, and it's nice to be with you guys.

Speaker 3 (00:12):
Today.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
We have a podcast called Calm Down. If you haven't
heard it, please subscribe.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
Listen and my interview, and thank you so much to
Sport Beach for having us, Stagwall for having us. We
really really appreciate it. Our plus ones appreciate it as well.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
If you listen to the podcast, you know who the
plus ones are, and if you don't know, they'll tell you.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
By the time this thing is over.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
They're up there somewhere, probably two or three deeps exactly
what without further ado.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Joining us today is Ed Pilkington, the Chief Marketing and
Innovative Officer of Diagio North America, the powerhouse behind brands
like Johnny Walker, Gunnis and Don Julio.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
We love Hi Ed.

Speaker 4 (00:50):
What's Ed?

Speaker 3 (00:55):
As we were telling Ed backstage. Last time I saw Ed,
we were in I don't know.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Nashville or something doing. Yeah, we're in Nashville doing some
fun stuff with Diagio. But we always love seeing Ed,
as I know most of you probably do if you
consume the spirits and flavors that Ed is behind, so
seeing Ed on your shelf. Ed is also one fun
fact you might not know about Ed is that he's
a huge soccer slash football fan for US over here

(01:21):
in Europe, a big fan not of Manchester United but
of Manchester City. So Ed, the question is what is
it about sports and cultures surrounding sports that pairs so
well with a brand like Diagio, Because you guys do
a lot of integration with sports and our relationships with
you before exactly, but.

Speaker 4 (01:42):
It's a big part that sports and having a drink
responsibly go together really well. Yeah, whether you're a player
and it's after the game, after the match, enjoying, celebrating,
discussing a disappointment, whatever it might be as a fan
at the stadium at a fan, whether you're at home
where you're out and about watching at a watch party,
whatever it might be, there's a integration because it's about
people coming together to share a common passion and our

(02:05):
business having drinking responsibly. Yeah, it's about celebrating life. It's
about having good times with people you love, people you
care for, friends and family and sports just a huge
part of that and that's why we get involved. It's
having a Guinness before the rugby if you're in the UK,
it's about you know, having a Crown Royal at the
get an NFL game, whatever it might.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
Be ingrained in the memories. Are those spirits huge?

Speaker 4 (02:27):
That's right, absolutely, and it's about creating memories.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
I remember what I have a memory back in twenty
twenty one, I had a chance to do a Crown
Royal ad with you guys a Thanksgiving and that's when
you major mark you began your relationship with the NFL.
It's all about that sports and culture. Like you guys
were just talking about, since you have began your relationship
and worked with the NFL, Just what's that been like

(02:50):
in the powerhouse that that is in the States.

Speaker 4 (02:53):
That's great. Well, the NFL has been brilliant for us
because it just gives us access to literally millions of people.
You know, it's the obvious state one hundred one million
people watch the Super Bowl, So our ability to access people,
you know that, I don't need to tell you guys.
The viewing numbers are impressive.

Speaker 3 (03:07):
So on most watched sporting event.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Ever.

Speaker 4 (03:11):
Ability you want to access consumers basically through just the
media opportunity but then at the Stadia, but then what
we can do around it? So at the Stadia arounation
that the integration is really important. So you know the
Super Bowl, Yeah we're visible, but it's the integrations we
do around it also that make a big difference on
Crown Royal. On Don Julio, all those Browns you.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Mentioned integrations and switching gears pun intended here to Formula one,
which has been unbelievable for anyone that's seen the documentaries
or gotten behind the sport.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
I mean, it's been big forever.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
But for us in the States, maybe we're a little
slower to you know, partaking in Formula one. But now
with the places like Miami, Las Vegas, things like that.
You teamed up with Trophy House and the experience at
Miami Grand Prix.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
What was the goal for you guys there?

Speaker 4 (03:57):
The goal simply was to give people had gone down
to Miami a really good time. As you know, mim
is a big party and people are down there and
joining themselves. It was an opportunity for us to access
lots of people who candid. Trophy House was a bit
more high networth, so we took our high net worth spirits.
Don Houdie forty two, Don Juley at Ultima, which is
like more even more expensive some of our expensive whiskies,

(04:19):
and we kind of sampled them, tasted them candily, opportunity
to sell them rare whiskies. So it's all about actually
accessing a lot of people who were down in Miami
for a really special, big weekend. Basically, it's a good place.

Speaker 3 (04:31):
That's a good place to do it.

Speaker 4 (04:32):
Sometimes we do it it Bearies my brand, but that
you know, yeah, we nibble around the edges on Formula one.
We're not you know, we've done a lot of stuff
over the years with Formula one. But it was a cool,
cool thing to do.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
I was going to say, how to go. I heard
it was a hit. We saw everything on Instagram.

Speaker 4 (04:46):
Yeah, Joe, Yeah, it was really fun. Yeah, it's great, No,
it's great. It's just an amazing weekend. It's great, I
mean the weekend down there because everyone just throws themselves
into it. So it was great. And we people watched
the Grand Prix, which is a good Grand Prix, was
some fantastic cocktails, pretty good.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
We talked about what you guys have done in the NFL.
Of course, you work with the other football soccer as well,
talk about how you approach their audience versus what you
do in the States.

Speaker 4 (05:10):
With us with the NFL, well, it's just about tailoring
to your audiences, about knowing your consumer so and actually
even with the NFL, if you look at the NFL
stats within spirits, three of the four most consumed brands
during NFL games, either at stadia or at home are
Crown Royal, Smirnoff, and Captain Morgan. So we know that,
so we know our consumers are watching. And then it's
just about tailoring the message to your consumers, whether it's

(05:32):
through content, whether it's through activations at the stadio, whether
it's your activations in town, and just knowing your consumers.
But it is a slightly different consumer. The passion levels
are the same whether you're you know, whether you're a
Seahawks fan, whether you're a Dolphins fan, or whether in soccer,
whether you're a City fan or a Liverpool fan. There's
still that level of passion. So how you tap in
to consumers passion. So we have an NFL partnership which

(05:53):
gives us access across all fifty states, but then we
physically sponsor twenty four teams. So that allows us to
really access each of those teams, the fan bases within
those teams, to do real you know, messaging to those teams,
content to those teams, and really tap into those audiences.
So we kind of do big national stuff and then
you really get local basically. So that's how he worked
with the NFL SOCCA. We got some with sponsoring FIFA

(06:17):
the World Cup next year.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
I was just going to ask you about that because
I just came from Miami and we did the aforementioned
Miami and we did a big preview sort of because
Fox has the World Cup next year and a big
kickoff to that, because it was a year to the
date of when that's going to happen. What is your
relationship with them, and how are you going to sort
of integrate all of Theagiel products into something as massive

(06:39):
as a US World Cup.

Speaker 4 (06:41):
So we we're the official partner of FIFA in the Americas,
so basically from Alaska down and we're basically doing it
because it's just going to be the biggest sporting event
as you guys know, incredible to hit the States, Mexico,
and Canada.

Speaker 1 (06:55):
Bigger than ever. One and four matches this year. Yeah,
someone told me. I was just with somebody from tell
Mundo at another panel. They said, it's like doing three
Super Bowls in one day. Exactly insane.

Speaker 2 (07:05):
That's what our bosses will also say is they're already
stressing about it, so.

Speaker 4 (07:08):
We just got to be there. I mean, it's because
people are going to be at Stadia, they're going to
be watching at home, all the watch parties, the fan fest,
so we kind of just want to show up and
we want people to enjoy. We're going to lead with
Casamigos with our tequila brand. Yeah, they're a little bit
stuff with Don Judio, another tequila brand. So we're pretty
focused about what brands we're going to use.

Speaker 3 (07:26):
It's gonna be huge.

Speaker 4 (07:27):
There's a huge opportunity. Yeah, yeah, great. I think the
whole country is going to love it.

Speaker 2 (07:31):
Well, it's the first time that the World Cup has
been in the United States in over thirty years.

Speaker 3 (07:35):
We weren't born yet, so we haven't been able to
partaken that.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
But yeah, ninety four so sad i'd love to see lawless.
Another thing we're very excited about in the United States
and actually globally as well as women's sports. We've seen
and it's been exciting for us being you know, females
that broadcast sports, seeing also female fans be a little
bit more engaged as of late and everybody. That's a

(07:59):
win for all of us in terms of women's sports.
And you, guys, how do you get involved? How do
you see that going in the future.

Speaker 4 (08:07):
So in the States and actually globally, I'll start with
the States. It's really important we want to be supporting
women's sports. It's tremendous. I think the progress we've seen
over the last five ten years is amazing. I don't
need to tell you guys that we were a founding
partner of Angel City in LA which was great, so
one of the five core founding partners, which is brilliant.
We've done stuff with Gotham who have done well actually

(08:28):
obviously been champions, which again has been brilliant. And actually
we go to Europe. We're the Guinness which traditionally sponsored
rugby men's rugby. We're now the official sponsor of women's
rugby as well, which is really big, which is a
big thing. Women's rugby is on a roll as well,
so you know, around there's other stuff we're doing, so
it's really important that we're there. It's really important we're
supporting women's sport. It's growing. And also it's because back

(08:50):
to the first question, it's also an opportunity for people
to come together, have a good time, enjoy our brands
and all that over sport.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
I was gonna ask ed, what's his favorite drink?

Speaker 3 (08:59):
Yeah, come on.

Speaker 4 (09:00):
Now, So I joined the company because I loved Guinness.
I drank Guinness as a student. I'm a big if
you ask most people who know me, I'm a big
tanker age drinker. I love I'm very it's my British roots.

Speaker 3 (09:10):
Yeah, I love the bottle. That bottle is so gorgeous.

Speaker 4 (09:15):
But you know, don Julio's here. We're doing lots of
stuff this week.

Speaker 3 (09:18):
With You're busy this weekend.

Speaker 4 (09:20):
Yeah, we've got a lot of stuff going on.

Speaker 2 (09:21):
A lot of stuff going on. We only have a
minute left with you. But we love some rapid fire
questions real quick. We're going to see how many we
can get in. Aaron and I on our podcast like
to have fun with things. Here's the question Airport Cocktails
at nine am. Cheers to that or out on that.

Speaker 4 (09:34):
Can't do that?

Speaker 3 (09:35):
No, don't do that?

Speaker 4 (09:36):
Really you've flown from Australia to La all over the place.

Speaker 1 (09:39):
Okay, yeah, but no, there goes my social life meetings
that last over two hours.

Speaker 3 (09:44):
Cheers to that?

Speaker 4 (09:44):
Or out on that bad idea. You got to follow
the ninety minute rule, haven't you like it's like a
soccer match. At the end of ninety minutes, you're out.

Speaker 1 (09:51):
Ninety minutes as long too.

Speaker 4 (09:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (09:53):
Ice in white wine? Cheers to that, are out all.

Speaker 4 (09:56):
He can't really promote white wine because we don't sell.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
Wineeah, fair, fair enough, but.

Speaker 4 (10:01):
Hypothetically yes, if it's really warm like this, Yeah, what
the hell you should enjoy your drinks how you want
to exact.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
Relating to the younger generation using slang like lit or bet.

Speaker 3 (10:13):
Cheers to that or are you on that?

Speaker 4 (10:15):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (10:16):
Well, cheers cheers to Ed Pilkington. Thank you, which is
I don't know why anyone doesn't get it, get it right.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
We love Ed.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
Thank you so much for being here, and Ed, I'll
hear you to you.

Speaker 3 (10:27):
I'll see you in Las Vegas. Yes exactly, it is
in Vegas. Good to see you. Get it get over here.
Thank you. Ed gets in.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
Everybody calm down with Aaron and Carissa is a production
of iHeart Radio.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,
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Hosts And Creators

Erin Andrews

Erin Andrews

Charissa Thompson

Charissa Thompson

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