We aim to 6X our business by 2030 in our top most emerging market- India: Zeenah Vilcassim

Bacardi has launched its first-ever India-local campaign for Bacardi Mix’r, titled “#It'sAMood”, which brings to life the brand’s global proposition- “To do what moves you”, with a culturally nuanced approach to wooing the Indian audiences in Tier I and II markets.

The campaign-

https://youtu.be/taYHaRh9gV8 

Speaking to BestMediaInfo.com at the launch of the same, Zeenah Vilcassim, Marketing Director, Bacardi India, shared that when Bacardi was setting out its strategy as an organisation, globally, the brand looked at the emerging markets that would drive the most growth in the next five years and of those, India happened to be the number one. It was owing to this particular insight that she was asked to come to the country and take up the role of driving growth here.

“India is one of the most dynamic consumer markets in the world and if we were to resonate with the consumer herein, we knew that we just couldn’t take a global or even pan-India approach, but look at our consumers, locally,” she said.

She then went on to state that it was approximately two years back that the brand decided to do extensive market research in India to better understand the Indian consumer and the nuances between the different states, regions, etc. as what is core to the organisation’s strategy is keeping consumers at the heart of it.

Vilcassim also pointed out that having been in India for two decades now, with Bacardi NH7 Weekender completing 13 editions, the brand had launched two variants of Bacardi Mix’r- Mojito and Long Island Iced tea, last year.

“With the strategy being set in place, with all the research that we've done and with our ambition to 6X our business by 2030 in India, it was the perfect time to launch our first-ever India-local campaign,” she said.

She stated that Bacardi Mix’r #It'sAMood is all about what Bacardi stands for globally- “To do what moves you”, which is why the Caribbean-rhythm-inspired brand film is all about fun and energising as well as being fearless in doing what all one wishes to do, regardless of being judged by others.

“With India, every single city and every single element of it, there's a different mood, vibe or energy and that goes for the consumers as well which is why the brand film- “If it moves you, it's a mood” is all about bringing the local culture and nuances of the city to life,” she said.

The integrated 360-degree local campaign will run for an entire year and will be rolled out in four stages, with the first one encompassing all ATL mediums such as TV, OTT and Cinema wherein the media will be reaching out to 75% of the brand’s addressable audience, Vilcassim elaborated.

She also went on to state that the second leg of the campaign will see the brand collaborating with Moodsetters as part of the digital influencer activity, the third with an integrated experiential setup and the last one being a marketing-tech innovation which will happen both- on-ground and in Digital and Out Of Home.

“Because Bacardi is all about the Caribbean, the two big TV spots- 30 seconder and 60 seconders, are a remix of the Magalenha track with an Indian Bansuri undertone to it in terms of the sound and in visuals, we've got highlights from the streets of Calcutta, beaches of Goa, house parties in Bombay, etc” she shared.

In terms of the brand-agency collaborations, Vilcassim shared that Bacardi has associated with seven different agencies, of which the brand film has been conceptualised by Virtue Worldwide, 1862 Only Much Louder taking care of the influencer activities along with the media agency for the entire campaign being OMD India.

“This is the first time that our ad spend is roughly the same as it was last year, however, the media spends for Bacardi Mix’r is about 50% more than it was during the previous year and we're also completely integrating the message across our experiential platforms such as Casa Bacardi and NH7 Weekender as well,” she stated.

Vilcassim stated that in terms of the OTT and Digital platforms, Bacardi would be leveraging Amazon Prime, YouTube, Facebook, Sony Pix, Star Gold, Sony Max etc. as well as regional OTTs, Radio and Podcasts in addition to TV - wherein the 30-seconder and the 60-seconder will be placed more in the national slots for amplification.

Having launched a year back, Bacardi Mix’r has witnessed resonance mainly in metro cities, in her opinion, owing to the drink-less-but-better premiumisation element kicking in in the aftermath of the pandemic and continuing. However, the brand now aims to push its inclusive drinking message through the product offering to Tier II cities.

Throwing light on the brand’s audience targeting mechanism, she also pointed out that since the brand has always been synonymous with culture, it opts for a mindset targeting approach rather than the typical demographic targeting. 

“For Bacardi Mix’r, we’re looking to target the young exuberants i.e- the people who are not scared to dance on the beat of their drum and are confident in who they are as well as being open to looking for new experiences as the product itself enables one to experiment and to have fun while being more inclusive with one’s drinking habits,” she explained.

She also pointed out that these young exuberants, which the brand targets, are the ones who actively seek meaningful connections and bond over shared moments, and favour surrounding themselves with like-minded people, they find joy in the different ways of being true to themselves, and are passionate, expressive, joyous, and liberated to do what moves them. 

Moving further, Vilcassim also mentioned that in the U&A Study carried out by Bacardi in India along with OMD India for local connections planning, there were some key insights around experiences, including- India, second to Thailand, is going to spend more of its net income on live experiences than any other country in the world ensuring a people-to-people connection. 

“India is the most exciting and dynamic consumer market in the whole world because it's growing at an accelerated pace, the economic indicators are going, overtaking the UK as the fifth largest economy, on its way to becoming the third-largest by 2030. Moreover, Indian consumers are optimistic about their spending power as well, which is in contrast to many other places in the world, even developing markets, which is why there's a lot of hope, optimism and excitement for experiences,” she said.

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