The liquor industry is undoubtedly an interesting one – not just to get high! But to understand the nuances of experiential marketing in its best form. Working with Carlsberg and Mahou India in her previous roles, Ramita Chaudhuri, who is now a marketing and startup expert, specifies that the liquor industry being restricted by rules and norms to advertise, makes the brands in this space more innovative in the way they do activations or brand marketing.
Stepping into the realm of experiential
“Since you cannot do much of ATL you are bound to do more of a point-of-sale kind of an experience. And that's where I have learned a lot of things that we never thought were possible. The first of those is that experiential marketing and immersive marketing are not interchangeable terms. Immersive is experiential. But experiential need not be immersive because immersive has a technology component added to it.”
Around a decade back, brands used to do more physical experiential stuff. Now with AR, VR and different types of technology, it is more about such technology adoption. Gen Z and the future generations are always on their phones. Citing some examples of her days in the liquor industry, she mentioned them launching Tuborg with the main USP of a pull-off cap.
Banking on USPs
“No beer brand had a pull-off cap before. It was the first before Kingfisher Ultra. At various outlets, we ran the Tuborg Hour where for half an hour the beer was served free – but at every event, contests and games were created around the pull-off cap. So when a consumer pulls off the cap, there is a pop sound. So we had to tell the bartenders, please don't open it and give it to them. This is an experience. Not only the consumers but the customers who are the bartenders needed to be taught.
Sometimes we forget that experiential is only for the consumers. In the alcohol industry, we have a B2B model where the customers are equally important. So we taught them first that this pop sound is very interesting because of the pull-off cap. And then we made different games like frog jump, having a ring ceremony and more. And we did contests like coming up with five different things that you can do with this pull-off cap, and more. The purpose was to make it very sticky, which is a very big factor, or else it will be difficult for the consumers to remember what you did - it is that you did so differently from others,” she stated.
Talking at the exchange4media Red Carpet Experiential Marketing Summit 2024 which took place on 27 December, 2024 at the Eros Hotel in the capital, Chaudhuri her insights on the liquor industry with instances of initiating projects like Men Can Cook With Carlsberg for the male members of the CXO community, to beer tasting and appreciation sessions for socialising and gastronomy for Mahou India, and getting the ‘tapas’ (small bites) concept to consumers in interesting and engaging ways, focusing on consistency, having digitised menus, to experimenting with VR tours of breweries, building brand loyalty and more aspects of the liquor industry, thus, involving the attendees in a gripping story of experiential marketing tactics being utilised in this space.
