At Bacardi We Prioritise Collaborations Over Sponsorships: Ashish Jha

Bacardi’s Senior Brand Manager, Ashish Jha, talks to Everything Experiential in an exclusive conversation as he delves into the intricate world of experiential marketing, shedding light on the brand's strategies during music events. Jha explores Bacardi's use of technology and digital platforms, narrating the brand's foray into the virtual realm during the pandemic with the Bacardi NH7 Weekender. The interview provides insights into Bacardi's event planning, tailoring experiences to resonate with India's diverse music preferences. Jha underlines the brand's collaborative efforts with artists, the significance of consumer feedback and the ever-growing importance of sustainability in their event strategies.

Excerpts:

With the rise of experiential marketing, how does Bacardi create immersive experiences that go beyond traditional branding during music events?

Creating immersive experiences is a core part of Bacardi’s offerings in India and we build these by amplifying popular trends and connecting with consumer interests. We have provided a platform to celebrate micromovements such as sneaker culture, streetwear, dance and music at the on-ground Bacardi events, in the form of pop-ups and workshops that let fans indulge and directly connect with their passion points. Through this, we can create a deeper and more organic connection between the Bacardi brand and our fans, building unique communities within India’s music scene.

In what ways does Bacardi leverage technology and digital platforms to enhance engagement and participation during music festivals?

At Bacardi, we take a digital-first approach to communicating with our audiences online and have also incorporated a significant amount of technological infrastructure into our on-ground activations.

Our digital-led outreach strategy is built on a strong media presence across popular social media platforms like Instagram, and we actively partner with like-minded content creators and brands to bring Bacardi offerings to the right audiences and interact with them meaningfully, securing a significant increase in our brand mentions.

Our greatest use of technological infrastructure for events, both in magnitude and scale, took place during the pandemic when we took the Bacardi NH7 Weekender into the virtual world considering the global pandemic lockdowns, turning it into a 4,000-person virtual festival. We also explored the AR space for our Casa Bacardi events as a virtual first, fully immersive AR experience that took place across 25 countries featuring new music, customisable digital avatars and more, securing over 27 million impressions.

In the vibrant landscape of India's music festivals, how does Bacardi strategise to create memorable brand experiences?

Music and music experiences have been at the forefront of creating meaningful connections with our consumers. Music brings people together, makes them move and enables freedom of expression and connection which is what is the DNA of brand Bacardi.

At Bacardi, we keep the consumer at the heart of everything we do, hence we keep listening to them to curate brand experiences to suit their constantly evolving needs. In order to form a meaningful connection while recruiting the next generation of consumers the brand experiences that we offer need to be relevant to them. For instance, Gen Z looks out for more engagement avenues than just watching their favourite artist at music festivals. Keeping this in mind, we are elevating brand experience by offering them avenues to engage with subcultures through popups, curated experiences and workshops at our on-ground events where consumers can indulge in their passions or discover new ones.

What unique elements does Bacardi incorporate into its event planning to resonate with the diverse music preferences of the Indian audience?

The essence of every Bacardi event is the consumer experience. Over the years we have seen that audiences prioritise discovering new music and experiences. Keeping this in mind, we’ve employed active social listening and tracking of consumer listening trends to understand the types of music and artists that our audiences are enjoying and worked to bring those artists to our musical platforms.

We’ve used platforms like ‘Bacardi Sessions’ to promote upcoming indie artists and help them be discovered by a wider audience - including some well-known Indian names like Gurbax, and Ritviz. We also amplified trending musical subcultures at the times that they were peaking in popularity such as the Indian hip hop and afro-beats movements in recent years.

Our planning is thus entirely centred around ensuring a memorable experience for all our diverse sets of attendees, and we are constantly innovating new ways to offer this to our audiences in line with their varied preferences. Bringing together this variety of tastes, sounds, and experiences allows us to connect with the wide variety of interests of the Indian audience and build a strong sense of community among all our attendees.

How does Bacardi approach sponsorships and partnerships with music festivals? What criteria are considered when selecting events to align the brand with?

Bacardi focuses primarily on collaborations over sponsorships when it comes to our events and experiential offerings. We aim to create compelling experiences that will add value to our consumers with unique and disruptive offerings and work together with creators, brands and artists whose vision aligns with our brand ethos. We believe this co-creation model allows us to be more actively involved and contribute creatively to the experiences over event sponsorship models.

What role do consumer feedback and data analytics play in shaping Bacardi's future strategies for music festivals and events?

Consumers are at the heart of Bacardi's efforts to curate experiential events, and so consumer feedback and conversations play an essential role in shaping our plans for future editions. We endeavour to constantly keep a finger on the pulse of current consumer trends, as well as to stay receptive to their feedback through our online channels - helping us refine our existing offerings as well as innovate new spaces and experiences.

Can you share insights into the collaborative efforts with artists and performers to align Bacardi’s brand ethos with the spirit of the music festivals?

In line with the Bacardi brand philosophy of ‘do what moves you,’ we work with artists to help them find what moves them and bring their creations to a wider audience through our stages and platforms. One of the artists we worked with is Ritviz, who has now grown to be one of India’s leading artists. We are committed to similarly identifying promising Indian artists and empowering them to reach their fullest potential.

How does Bacardi navigate the challenges posed by the diverse cultural landscape of India to ensure its events are inclusive and appeal to a broad audience?

While the Indian audience has a wide variety of cultural touchpoints and interests, we view this as an opportunity to reach out to our audiences in a better way. Bacardi has been at the forefront of spotlighting emerging artists and musical movements while bringing the best of international talent to the Indian festival circuit. Today, Bacardi experiences are created to be a medley of cultural offerings that celebrate various forms of music, alongside a variety of other interest areas for the new generation of music fans including streetwear, mixology, gastronomy, dance, gaming and more. We have seen new-age audiences emphasising experimentation and

the wide variety of cultural offerings curated by Bacardi ensures that there is something for everyone, while simultaneously giving them new attractions to try.

Additionally, these experiences are inclusive not just in the aspect of personal taste but also aim to include people of all levels of ability. Bacardi has always placed a high priority on providing all our attendees with a welcoming, safe and pleasant atmosphere and towards that we have ensured that our flagship event, the Bacardi NH7 Weekender, remains an accessible space for differently abled fans, as well as an LGBTQIA+ friendly space since 2022.

Incorporating sustainability into events is a growing trend. How does Bacardi integrate eco-friendly practices into its music festivals, aligning with the global push for greener initiatives?

Sustainability is a crucial consideration for Bacardi events and is a foundational part of our planning process. One of the most fundamental changes we have incorporated is to ensure that all food and beverage service is done in reusable and compostable rice husk plates and cups, to minimise waste generated. The Bacardi NH7 Weekender has been a trailblazer among Indian music festivals when it comes to sustainability, responsibly disposing of over 86 per cent of waste generated at the event through composting or recycling. We have further made efforts to minimise the use of plastic at events, eliminating single-use plastic water bottles and straws and instead offering free hydration stations with reusable cups for attendees.

As part of our ongoing and ever-evolving commitment to sustainability, we will continue to improve and enhance our procedures to uphold the highest levels of environmental responsibility and awareness. Our goal is to encourage festival attendees and the larger community to embrace more ecologically friendly behaviours through all our events, which embody the spirit of responsible celebration.

Looking ahead, what exciting plans does Bacardi have for the upcoming music festival season and are there any new trends or innovations that the brand is eager to explore in its event planning?

We are just as thrilled to step into 2024 and present our audiences with several exciting and noteworthy projects and experiences that we have marked on this year’s calendar that we will bring to life with the distinctive Bacardi flair. We are keeping a finger on the pulse of new trends to see what consumers are most excited about and connecting with.

2023 was a successful year for Bacardi, as we hosted multiple chapters of Casa Bacardi across Mumbai and Delhi, bringing in unique concepts and activations for each. The 14th edition of Bacardi NH7 Weekender was extremely well received by fans, reinvigorating the classic Weekender vibe with a fresh lineup, a new venue and a dedicated all-female lineup on day two of the festival. All these events were well-received by the audiences with a promise of being more inclusive and accessible than ever with an exciting lineup and other features.

Our first event of the 2024 season was the Casa Bacardi House of Moods at the Radio Club in Mumbai which took place in early February, a seaside celebration of Caribbean music and vibes and we’re looking forward to revealing the rest of our lineup to our fans very soon.