ABD Maestro rewrites alcobev playbook with 40-40-20 marketing split and a no-TV mantra

Mumbai: In a sector that’s always had to tiptoe around advertising rules, ABD Maestro seems to be taking a more inventive detour. The brand, a subsidiary of Allied Blenders and Distillers (ABD), isn’t trying to shout louder than regulation allows. It’s just trying to work smarter, and a little more algorithmically, within the lines.

What makes it stand out isn’t the size of its budget, but how it spends it. Maestro behaves less like a 40-year-old Alcobev company and more like a restless startup, one that’s trying to read audiences, personalise touchpoints, and turn digital-first engagement into long-term brand memory.

And for a category that has long leaned on proxy advertising, surrogate packaging and music festivals, Maestro’s spend pattern tells an interesting story about how Indian Alcobev marketing is starting to evolve.

The 40-40-20 formula

At the centre of it all is a clear 40–40–20 split. 40% percent of ABD Maestro’s marketing outlay (estimated to be in the middle double-digit crore range) goes into awareness - all of it digital. Another 40% is reserved for engagement and experiences. The final 20% is parked in retail influencers, promoters, and trade activations.

That first 40%, fully digital, signals a clean break from the old playbook. It’s not a protest against television; it’s an acceptance of how people actually consume content now.

Alcohol brands in India have little room to advertise on mass media, and with younger consumers discovering brands through digital-first experiences, the logic of spending heavily on television has faded.

“Overall TV viewership has been declining year after year, except for Connected TVs, which are seeing significant growth. The last figure I recall was around 60–70 million Connected TV users in India. However, even that experience isn’t truly personalised,” explained Arvind Hangal, Director - Marketing and Special Accounts, ABD Maestro. 

In contrast, he points out, the mobile screen offers something TV never could: intent. “On mobile, users actively choose what they want to watch, unless they’re just doom-scrolling.”

Hangal also flagged what most media planners have been quietly observing: the rise of the second screen. 

“Even when people are watching something like an IPL match on television, they’re simultaneously on their phones, scrolling through Instagram or Facebook, checking Dream11, or even ordering food on Swiggy. This multitasking has become second nature,” he said.

So, while Connected TV viewership grows, mobile remains the command centre of attention. For ABD Maestro, that’s where awareness budgets make the most sense.

With TV fading in the grand scheme of marketing for ABD Maestro, the players playing strong are digital video, social platforms, and influencer networks as the most efficient way to build top-of-funnel awareness. But digital here isn’t about reach alone, it’s about traceability. Every impression can be measured, retargeted, or tested for creative performance.

Experience vs exposure

If the first 40% builds awareness, the next 40% is where the real differentiation begins. This portion of Maestro’s marketing budget is directed towards engagement and experiences, spaces where the brand can legally interact, experiment, and create sensory recall.

Being a “startup” in the alcobev industry, albeit backed by a legacy name, ABD Maestro is creating experiences which also play in the personal pool. 

Being a startup inside a legacy organisation has its perks. Maestro’s approach to experience is smaller and more personal. “The experiences may be as simple as a house party or making your own cocktail at home,” he said.

“While we may not yet have the scale to host large-format music events as a startup, that remains an eventual goal. For now, our focus is on achieving greater reach through smaller, high-impact experiential initiatives that bring our brands directly into consumers’ lives,” he added. 

It’s an interesting recalibration. Instead of big-ticket visibility, Maestro is chasing micro-moments that get remembered or, better, shared.

The remaining 20% is shared by retail influencers, promoters, and their ilk. ABD Maestro, within its education-led marketing plan, is also planning physical, AI-powered touchpoints that introduce the brand portfolio to consumers in a more digitally digestible way.

All in all, reach is the apple of the eye for ABD Maestro. The brand is aiming to mirror the growth trajectory aligned with the current tequila market (1.5-2 lakh cases annually). 

Agency and AI 

ABD Maestro is turbocharging its AI tools to come out with digital campaigns and packaging designs. However, the brand is still holding hands with agencies to give more structure to their creative mapping. 

Their creative partner is a boutique agency called River, which works alongside a network of freelancers. “River handles most of the creative work, while planning is done jointly with our in-house brand team. The agency takes care of the nuts and bolts of execution, whereas the briefing and strategic direction come from us.

That said, we’re gradually moving towards creating some of our own content as well. The idea is to start small, produce base-level assets internally and then build on them to generate original, brand-led content,” he said. 

Media planning and buying for the agency is done by Beehive,  a member of the Publicis Groupe. 

AI has already found a visual role in Maestro’s campaigns, from AI-generated VAPs (Value Added Packs) to collaborations with virtual lifestyle influencers Kavya Mehra and Kabir Manja.

“We’re exploring AI influencers primarily because of their versatility. With AI, you’re not limited by factors like cost, location, or setup; you can create virtually anything through prompts. This flexibility allows us to experiment more freely and maintain control over brand expression,” Hangal noted.

Aligned with this is the spend allocation, ABD Maestro earmarks barely 2-3% towards conventional influencers. 

Gating and gatekeeping

Even as brands adapt to new channels, the regulatory environment remains inconsistent, especially on digital platforms. ABD Maestro’s team believes that age-gating should be treated as a baseline policy requirement, not a voluntary filter.

“Age-gating should be a basic hygiene factor,” they say. “If OTT and gaming platforms can do it, alcohol brands should be allowed to advertise responsibly with similar controls.”

The logic is practical. Without a consistent age-verification system, brands end up operating in a grey zone, technically compliant but perpetually cautious. This, in turn, stifles innovation and prevents responsible communication from scaling.

“In today’s world, it doesn’t really matter where the content appears. Everything is always accessible on our phones. The only effective safeguard, in my view, is age-gating, and that’s the one solution we actively rely on,” said Hangal. 

According to Hangal, “direct product-led content can easily be age-gated today, and there are already reliable mechanisms to ensure that happens.”

Moreover, “consumers who are of legal drinking age should have the choice to view such content if they wish to.” 

Strip away the digital gloss and the AI buzzwords, and ABD Maestro’s strategy comes down to one thing: agility.

When Hangal talks about AI-led creatives or content communities, it’s not just the vocabulary of a tech-led brand; it’s the mindset of an industry learning to play the digital game by its own rules.

The brand isn’t trying to be louder, just smarter. Its marketing reads more like a pilot project for what the next phase of Alcobev marketing could look like: structured spending, smarter storytelling, lighter teams, and tech quietly doing the heavy lifting.

At a time when TV spending is shrinking and the digital space is fragmenting into niche tribes, ABD Maestro’s approach hints at where premium alcobev marketing could be headed: smaller, smarter, and more situational. It’s not mass advertising anymore; it’s micro-context, algorithmic testing, and cultural adjacency.

In that sense, ABD Maestro’s startup spirit may be its biggest asset to navigate India’s alcobev playbook and the tightrope of how to sell a story when you can’t sell the product itself.