Diageo is celebrating winning its third Supplier of the Year trophy in five years at the 2020 Australian Drinks Awards.
"The whole team at Diageo are proud beyond measure at being named 2020 Supplier of the Year at the Australian Drinks Awards," said Diageo Commercial Director Chris Shaw.
"In a year that’s been like no other and that has brought challenges like none we’ve faced before, the Australian Drinks Awards are a moment of celebration and recognition of our industry when those moments are currently few and far between.
"I know how difficult the last six months have been for so many in our industry, in particularly our on-premise partners who have been so hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. I’m proud of how suppliers as a group have stepped up to the support the hospitality industry and it was great to see that collective industry response recognised in last night’s awards ceremony.
"Thank you to the award organisers The Drinks Association, and the Advantage Group, which runs the Advantage Survey. If the detailed survey results are anything like last year, then I think we’ll continue to see the evolving expectations of retailers, wholesalers and the on-premise being met by ever rising standards of service from all suppliers. We’re seeing increased capabilities and greater collaboration between supplier and customer which is fantastic, and bodes well for the future of our industry.
"Thank you to the entire team at Diageo Australia who all contributed to this result. With much change in the leadership of our commercial business units, it’s fantastic so see our new teams continuing to build upon the collaborative relationships with all our partners."
The Australian Drinks Awards were live streamed this year and hosted by TV personality Shelly Horton.
Hundreds of drinks industry members watched as four awards were handed out for Supplier of the Year, Most Improved Supplier, Category Management and Supply Chain Management.
The winners were:
Category Management Award – Diageo
Supply Chain Management Award – Treasury Wine Estates
Most Improved Supplier of the Year – Asahi Premium Beverages
Supplier of the Year – Diageo
They were chosen via the annual Advantage Engagement Survey. The Drinks Association has been commissioning Advantage Australia for the past decade to conduct the annual survey, which provides members with favourability ratings and qualitative retailer feedback from the off trade, on premise and wholesale channels.
“The traits that most describe Diageo are focus and consistency,” said John McLoughlin (above), Managing Director APAC at the Advantage Group.
“Focus because every year this business sets out to be a retailer-centric supplier that excels in engaging its partners and consistency because Diageo has been placed in the top three for this award for six of the last seven years."
Diageo also won the Category Management Award, which is new to the Australian Drinks Awards.
"Category management is a key contributor to the retailer supplier interface," said McLoughlin.
"I like to think of category management as the common language that both retailers and suppliers speak. We know from our data that the skills of building insightful category development plans are highly valued by retailers and as such this is a key driver of retailer engagement.
"We congratulate Diageo on also collecting the Category Management Award this year. Well done Diageo on again delivering excellence in retailer engagement."
Click here to watch a video of the full ceremony
Advantage Australia is a Corporate Partner of the Drinks Association.