Manish Seth is the Director- Sales and Marketing at Bacardi India Pvt. Ltd. Prior to joining Bacardi he has been associated with Seagram, Airtel, Cargill India Ltd and Perfetti Van Melle in various capacities. Manish has experience ranging across sales, brand management, trade marketing and business management.

In an exclusive interaction with India Digital Review, Manish talks about Bacardi’s newly launched marketing campaign ‘Bacardí Untameable Since 1862’, the response to the campaign so far and the importance of  mobile as a brand communication tool for Bacardi.

How does the digital medium - both internet and mobile figure in Bacardi’s plans to reach out to consumers? 

Digital is a very important medium for BACARDI as it allows for direct and two-way communication with our audience on an ongoing basis. This has been reflected in our previous campaigns as well as properties such as BACARDI NH7 Weekender, The Dewarists (A DEWAR’s Initiative), etc.

With respect to our campaign ‘BACARDI UNTAMEABLE SINCE 1862’, our digital push was done in quite a disruptive fashion with a massive roadblock including live mobile TV applications and the internet covering 25 per cent of India’s digital audience in 1 day. 

Bacardi recently launched its digital campaign ‘Bacardí Untameable Since 1862’. Why the need for this new global positioning of the brand? How has been the response to the campaign so far?

With the 'BACARDÍ: Untameable Since 1862' campaign, we are consciously moving away from our association with beaches and parties to overlay a more emotionally relevant standpoint. We are linking the history of the brand with the current reality of our audience's lives.

The campaign takes the BACARDÍ brand back to its origins in Cuba, and the brand essence of BACARDÍ -an Irrepressible Spirit- draws from more than 150 years of the BACARDÍ family's uncompromising passion triumphing against challenges such as earthquakes, distillery fires, revolution and exile. This brand essence fits in perfectly with the lives of today's Millennial/Gen Y consumers, who continue to pursue their passions despite great uncertainty and a slowdown in economic growth. The time is right to tell this legendary story and we are proud to showcase this to our consumers in India.

We also have a new visual identity and a typeface inspired by the Cuban Art Deco style of the early 1900s. Our new logo as well is a creation inspired by BACARDÍ bat hand drawn designs from the early 1900s. Our new logo stays true to the integrity of the original symbol representing good luck, good fortune and family unity.

With a robust multimedia campaign across TV, OOH, Print, Internet etc, the campaign is unmissable and receiving highly positive reviews from consumers and followers on social media as well. When the campaign was launched on the digital medium, we saw a result of 60 million impressions in a single day. The activity over-delivered by over 20 per cent (target was 50mn) with a 100 per cent SOV on targeted sites. It also received a phenomenal response on Facebook: 21,000+ likes; 1200+ shares and 500+ comments on launch day. The new Bacardi’s journey in India has begun in a truly untameable fashion!

For the digital medium, what marketing initiatives are lined up for this new campaign on the digital medium?

While a concerted push on taking the Bacardi Untameable Since 1862 campaign to a large set of audiences shall continue on all digital and social platforms using the television commercial, we shall simulatneously apprise the BACARDI social media followers with greater details on BACARDI’s history and products. Subsequently we shall also try to communicate how the concept of Untameable is contemporarily relevant to today’s youth.

The BACARDI Untameable Since 1862 campaign was launched on 24th December 2013 with a first of its kind digital roadbloack across India’s top 10 Internet sites (drawing nearly 25 per cent of India’s internet traffic) and mobile TV networks. The campaign was spread across Times of India, Economic Times, ZigWheels, Gaana, IndiaTimes, Facebook, and YouTube among many others. The ‘take over’ consisted of a 10-seconder pre loader talking about Irrepressible Spirit of the brand through headlines such as ‘Exiled, Outlawed, Imprisoned and Always Free’.

This has been followed by a 30-day digital engagement and sustenance campaign on across top 10 video sites and social platforms.

How is Bacardi using the social media to promote this campaign? And otherwise, how important is social media to promote your brand in India?

Social media is very important to us and has been for our existing properties as well. We saw a phenomenal response on Facebook on the launch of ‘BACARDI Untameable Since 1862’. We are looking forward to more engagement on this medium in 2014.

People are speaking about mobile being a great medium for brand communication, but still, very less amount is spent on it. What is your take on this? How is Bacardi leveraging the medium for the promotion of ‘Bacardí Untameable Since 1862’?

We believe mobile is the future of media and content consumption and hence we have been very active on the mobile front for the BACARDI Untameable Since 1862’ campaign launch.

Our unprecedented digital roadblock consisted of roadblocks on mobile TV applications- Zenga TV and Ditto TV. We received a 100 percent share of voice across the leading mobile video platforms. The campaign was spread across mobile applications such as Gaana app, Times of India app, Economic Times app and YouTube mobile. BACARDI is constantly looking at innovations across mobile platforms.
A large part of our social media content is also widely consumed on mobile. We are consistently looking for great innovations across applications on iOS, Android, Windows, etc.

How do you see Bacardi’s digital spends moving this year - in terms of growth and focus? 

We are going to spend aggressively on digital with a close to 70-80 per cent increment on our previous year spends. We see digital becoming a lead medium for communication over the next 3-4 years.

What answers do you seek from your digital advertising agencies and digital media partners while promoting your brand on internet?

The biggest question and challenge that we have for our agencies is how do we convert the impressions, exposure and engagement on the digital medium into product trial and consumption. This is a difficult piece of the puzzle with which all marketers are grappling and we intend to work towards building a module of digital medium that directly translates into product consumption.

How do you see more traditional advertisers like you embracing the digital medium now?

The digital medium is ever growing and we have seen encouraging responses on this front in the past. We foresee more focus and look forward to creating interesting and engaging content on this medium in the coming years.

How do you see your marketing objectives aligning with what the online medium offers from two years down the line?

As discussed earlier, online medium is a very important medium for BACARDI as it allows for direct and two-way communication with our audience on an ongoing basis. Today, with technology advancements and the rise of social media, we are continually working to effectively engage with our audiences. And as I said earlier we look at digital as the lead medium for us in 3-4 years.