Bacardi's Anshuman Goenka Decodes Bacardi House Party Sessions - Campaign With A Heart

Marketing | February 20, 2018 | Interview

Bacardi Bacardi NH7 Weekender Bacardi House Party Sessions

Bacardi India has been constantly innovating when it comes to experiential marketing and the associations with music have taken the brand a long way. From Bacardi's association with NH7 to shows like Dewars, the brand has kept its foray into Experiential Marketing active. The latest from Bacardi India are the Bacardi House Party Sessions - one way to bring together music and marketing. Anshuman Goenka, Marketing Head, Bacardi unravels the concept and the aim behind the latest venture of the brand. 

How did the Bacardi House Party Sessions come about?

Bacardi House Party is a campaign we came up with a year and a half ago. It was based on a concept where house parties were getting culturally quite relevant in the country and we wanted to tap into this big consumption space that was getting created in the market. The biggest challenge we faced was the question of how could we get into this occasion? Bacardi has always been a party brand and been associated with the lively culture. The party scenario has been a legacy for us. Good music is the key recipe for a great house party. It was very easy for us to connect the dots because the party legacy continues to be in music and then in building this occasion through house parties, we’ve managed to connect the two to bring alive a campaign idea that not just has music at the heart of it but also has a consumption occasion that is around house parties that results in commercial values for the brand as well. 

How does music lend to the brand?

Music is a legacy for the brand Bacardi. For over the last two decaders, Bacardi has been associated with music, ever since the brand entered the country - in the 90s, there was the Bacardi Blast, to now where there is the Bacardi NH7 Weekender Music Festival. As we work in a country with such diverse backgrounds, cultures, people, is that one common thread that just binds everybody together. At its pace, it’s really worked for the brand. Definitely within our category, probably even outside our category, Bacardi is always considered to be one of the pioneers, as far as music is concerned. Today Bacardi House Party sessions is at the epitome of that space.

Is Bacardi trying to make some difference in the music space along with increasing consumption footfall?

Bacardi House Party is India’s first only credible hunt for the next set of musicians alonside providing the winners with a platform where they can say they performed at the Weekender Music Festival. Our partners AIB and Nuclea bring in the reach, aiding with the visibility and credibility. The three of us created the Bacardi House Party Sessions and our endeavour is over the course of this campaign we will identify 4 artists and we will help them create their first music track and music video. The first two have met astounding success and now there are two more to go. As a campaign, Bacardi House Party Sessions reinforces Bacardi’s play in music and I don’t think there is any other brand that is doing so much in music and in such a credible and a scalable manner. That’s what differentiates Bacardi as far as music is concerned. 

Take us through Bacardi's outlook for 2018.

2018 is a bright new year and it has a bright new future. Through all of last year we’ve emerged as the fastest growing international spirits company in india and I think that the testimony to how we approach our brands, our marketing and we’ve got the right brand, the right platform, the right occassion and all of it coming together to actually create experiences for the consumer and which is why 2018 will be a year of consistency where we will continue to invest behind these platforms that we’ve created, make it more culturally relevant as we go along, and through that we will emerge to be victorious in 2018. 

Anything new on the radar for Bacardi in India?

The whiskey portfolio has been doing really great – William Lawson's and Dewars both have made inroads into multiple states. Lawson's is now available in 18 states, Dewars in 12 so we’re going truly national with the two brands. We’ve had a good year in innovations as we’ve launched premium versions of our brands like Grey Goose Vodka launched with Bombay Sapphire, Star of Bombay, premium versions of Dewars. We’ve entered the sparkling wines space with Martini Prosecco. The portfolio has really come a full circle as we’re now present in every premium segment in every category. That’s what is helping us drive our portfolio a lot harder in terms of helping us plan ahead in terms of visibility, make these platforms a lot more scalable. We are going to continue this journey. Of course at the back of it we have a global portfolio with over 2,000 brands. As and when we see an opportunity, we will bring in the right portfolio.

Talking of the market share, we have the availability and the fortune of having segmented leadership today. Bacardi Rums has 97 percent volume share in premium rums. Breezer has about 97 percent share in RTDs, Grey Goose has 55 percent share in super premium vodka, Bombay Sak is a market leader in Gins, our brand is fairly well established in each of these categories.Year and half ago, Bacardi rums crossed 1 million cases. Bacardi rums this year is the number one international spirits brand in the country on volume basis. 

Guide us through the marketing plans for the year...

Tier II and Tier III markets will be a growth driver going forward. Bacardi Rums and Breezer will be the spaces marketing will be focused on. We're investing in both quite heavily and along with the Breezer Vivid Shuffle which is india’s first dance and hip hop music platform. With Scotch there’s the new investment bid we’re making. We're tapping the digital space, working closely with influencers and content creators. Partnering with such big stalwarts like AIB and Kanan and Kenny and Abhish and the kind of reach we want. It’s really come a full circle and then we also use the creators to solve the issue and add value to our on ground experiences. 

Anshuman Goenka, Marketing Head, Bacardi unravels the concept and the aim behind the latest venture of the brand.

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