Over and above brand awareness, saliency is a brand’s need to be particularly noticeable and prominent to ensure its appeal to consumers. Saliency could be said also to be ‘stand out’ … A mix of meaningfulness, saliency and difference are what makes brand strong. Understanding this and the levers to pull to make them strong and balanced can help towards strengthening the brand.

Example of Use: ‘The brand will be more salient if we develop its premiumness by working on its packaging, it will stand out more.’

Indie Bartender Understanding: Another one of these marketing concepts which brand managers love … we all want to stand out and be seen, the brand too thanks to its packaging but also thanks to other activities it develops, including being present and visible in our venues

A serve is a drink as it is sold to a consumer. A serve can be the brand served neat, mixed (cocktail, long drink … ) or can come with elements which complement the experience for the consumer as proposed by the bartender. Brands and hospitality actors use the word serve more than drink since it evokes more of a wider experience than that of just having a drink put in front of you.

Example of Use: ‘My recommended serve of a glass of XO cognac is to accompany it with dried fruits to enhance the taste experience.’

Indie Bartender Understanding: We serve serves in hospitality. You could say that there are venues which put drinks in front of their guests, but generally in the world’s best bars we are offering the experiences that consumers expect, therefore we serve and what we serve are called serves

As opposed to depletions, shipments are the sales that a brand will make to its distributor in a national market from its production base, rather than to a specific customer within in a market. Our shipments to the UK increase every year.

Example of Use: ‘The brand owner sends shipments to its distributor in the Netherlands three times a year. The distributor then has the stocks necessary to sell to its national customers and these sales are known as depletions!’

Indie Bartender Understanding: In a sales chain different words help to easily understand what is being referred to. Here shipments are the sales of the distributor from its production site to its national distributor.

The SWOT is the summary of the brand’s environment through its Strengths and Weakness in the market as opposed to its category’s Opportunity and Threats.

Example of Use: ‘When we did the Swot for the brand of gin we wanted to launch, the prospects seemed good on the basis of the Strengths the brand has. We tweaked the Weaknesses of the marketing mix and this addressed the Opportunities and the Threats we could see in the market. ‘

Indie Bartender Understanding: Like the marketing mix the SWOT is an important element of marketing preparation and the basis of any strategy and plan. We need to know what a brand’s strengths and weaknesses are facing the opportunities and threats the market poses.