How Johnnie Walker is Chasing World's Middle Class NPR
go to original November 26, 2013

Keep Walking México, Johnnie Walker: We are about to get everything we have dreamed of. (Johnnie Walker)

Johnnie Walker Scotch Whiskey is just about everywhere. You can find the distinctive square bottle in bars, liquor stores and supermarkets from Milwaukee to Mumbai.

According to the trade magazine Drinks International, Johnnie Walker is the ninth best-selling brand of distilled spirit in the world. And it's getting bigger.

Afshin Molavi, a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation, says it's all part of one of the biggest recent trends in global economics: the rapid growth of the middle class.

In Foreign Policy, Molavi writes about how a small general store founded by "a young John Walker" in 1819 transformed into "part of a massive conglomerate" with concerns around the globe. Now, five of Johnnie Walker's top seven global markets are in emerging markets.

Molavi tells NPR's Arun Rath that Johnnie Walker's success has followed the economic rise of countries like Mexico, Brazil, South Africa and India.

Read the rest at ideastream

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