Experiential marketing is at the heart of Bacardi’s brand story: Ashish Jha 

Once considered a cheap, dark spirit in India, rum has taken the fancy of younger people in India. Over the last few years, Bacardi has tried to change that perception not only by introducing new flavours but also making the brand synonymous with ‘having a good time’. An important factor in creating this brand positioning has been the experiential marketing events like Bacardi House parties, introducing an artist like Ritviz and several other on-ground activities while always ensuring to promote responsible drinking. 

According to IWSR, the rum market in India showed a growth of about 2% with a projected CAGR of 1.1% in the next 5 years the CAGR. While most rum brands in India still remain in the below aberage price point, brand lead of Bacardi Ashish Jha says that Bacardi is among the few brands that sit at standard or above in terms of the price point. “This particular category is growing faster at about double-digit growth versus the overall larger rum category,” he said.

“In order to reach these new consumers, we have ensured to have good presence on social media. We have partnered with content creators. We have many an on-ground events to relay the brand messaging,” he said. 

These events don’t just provide the potential consumers to taste of Bacardi, but also tell them about responsible drinking. “It is only right to take ownership of introducing them to the responsible way of enjoying their drink, if we are enjoying them to drinking. Even in our events, we ensure the attendees are of a drinking age by checking their IDs and there are enough and more hydration points handing out free water to ensure consumers are always well hydrated,” informed Ashish. He added that for certain events, the company also partnered with transport aggregators to ensure no attendee is behind the wheel after drinking. 

Responsible drinking, in fact, was also a big part of Bacardi’s campaign released last month on the occasion of World Rum Month. Ashish shared that younger consumers get excited about occasions. “What we realise is that these young consumers don't drink alone. The campaign called the Pitcher Perfect is in this spirit of social and responsible drinking. These are basically pitchers of cocktails that can be shared by groups looking to experiment with their drinking preferences,” he said. 

Such events, he feels, help position Bacardi as more of a lifestyle brand than a beverage. Ashish stressed that the brand plans to have a larger, meaningful connection with the consumers through having day-to-day conversations not only limited to the moment of consumption. “Social media allows us to do that. Another way to do this.” 

When it comes to the division of the marketing spend of Bacardi, it is 50-50 split between the digital medium and experiential events, informed Ashish. The other platforms are usually used to promote the events and not the brand. “When we entered the Indian market, we did have some TV spots that are memorable. Through them, we could establish Bacardi as a lifestyle brand with the whole beach vacation vibe. The present generation remembers us more for the Bacardi house parties and our partnership with artist Ritviz,” he said.  

Ritviz was discovered in 2018 by the brand through a talent show called Bacardi House Party Sessions for which Tanmay Bhatt and Nucleya were the judges. After winning the show, his first track was the smash hit ‘Ud Gaye’. The brand went on to collaborate with the much-loved artist on his next couple of albums as well. They later also partnered with other artists like Lisa Mishra, Benny Dayal, Amit Trivedi and Mohini Dey. 

“Though the event was a few years ago, even today we get thousands of consumers who are just playing music at home and tag us,” shared Ashish. He feels that content like this helps make online the gateway to offline and vice versa. 

One trend that is helping the brand be more relevant among the young consumers is their willingness to experiment with flavours. The nature of rum makes it a very good mixing liquid, so Bacardi is using this to their advantage. “Through social media channels, we started talking about mixology during the rum month. Other than featuring the classic cocktails that use rum like Mojito, Pina Colada, Daiquiris, we also gave an opportunity to bartenders to come up with their sort of signature cocktails,” informed Ashish. This was lapped up by the consumers who tried making them in the comfort of their homes, sharing the experience online by tagging the brand page.