GLENGOYNE DISTILLERY
A decade of design effectiveness
Brand Experience Strategy, Brand Home, Distillery Guest Experience
Glengoyne is a small distillery with the capacity to produce just over one million litres of alcohol per year and employs 56 staff on–site. It is also one of the most-loved Scotch whisky distilleries in the world.
Over the course of a decade, we worked with the Glengoyne Team to completely reimagine the visitor experience at the distillery. We were in it for the long haul.
• DBA GOLD AWARD WINNER
• DBA GOLD AWARD WINNER
• DBA GOLD AWARD WINNER
• DBA GOLD AWARD WINNER • DBA GOLD AWARD WINNER • DBA GOLD AWARD WINNER
Glengoyne first briefed us in 2008. The distillery had already offered tours for year.
They say don’t fix it if it’s not broken. But as Glengoyne has such a small footprint with a fully working distillery, the experience for both visitors and staff, although profitable, was cumbersome. Never mind health and safety considerations and the predictability of footfall in a rural spot — it was an everyday hindrance.
The Glengoyne team understood the importance of the visitor experience to create brand advocacy, while also understanding that production of the whisky could not be compromised.
The initial request was to review the tour process and enhance the visitor flow through the site. Almost immediately the Glengoyne team began to see positive results and made the decision to actively manage the visitor experience and reinvest in further design developments to continue this trend.
This was our chance to establish a new benchwork for luxury whisky releases
First up was the retail shop. We established a clearer journey through the product range and an ambience that encourages guests to linger.
Next, we added more structure to the journey through the production spaces and created engaging content along the guest journey – Warehouse No. 1, featuring a display where the maturation process’ effect on the spirit is visually explained being a key example.
Due to the back-to-front nature of the site, we repurposed a cottage to house the ticketing and welcome at the entrance to the site.
And finally, as tour numbers increased (a victim of our own success) we revisited the visitor centre to accommodate increasing tour sizes and visitor numbers while also creating flexibility for events.
THE RESULTS:
DBA Gold
Award Winner
NO.1 Best Tour
in Scotland
+117% Visitors
+81% Visitor Spend
+68% Retail Sales
Over the course of a decade, the aim remained consistent – deliver an unparalleled premium visitor experience and increase revenues through spend per head.
Both of these were realised through the effectiveness of the design changes, all while maintaining the character of the brand and the historical site.
