Essentially popular for its white spirits, Bacardi India surprised the consumer at home when last month it entered the whiskey market with the launch of its product called, Legacy. Not to mention, the company also houses brands such as Dewar’s, William’s Lawson. The company claims all this but a change in the strategy as it claims that in the next five years the company will be equally popular for its whisky products. “We get this question all the time. Why has Bacardi launched whisky after 25 years of existence in India? But actually, if you look at the consumers in this space, this category is primed for an evolution. The category is still playing on traditional whisky tropes, the packaging the communication, and they’re all in very similar spaces. As we knew that this category was primed for the next stage of its evolution, which is why we launched legacy premium Indian whisky,” Zeenah Vilcassim, marketing director, Bacardi India told BrandWagon Online.
Legacy which was initially launched in Maharashtra, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh will soon be available in others stated including Delhi (NCR), Punjab, Karnataka, Odisha, West Bengal and Rajasthan. “In five years, with products such as like Dewar’s, William’s Lawson, Bacardi India will also be known as a whisky company and will be taken as seriously in the brown space,” she added.
With spirits brands not allowed to advertise on traditional medium, the company too like many of its peers in the business has created or rather invested in creating properties which it claims to resonate with the youth, besides opting for the digital route. According to Vilcassim, as a company Bacardi always, always follows the Advertising Standards Guidelines. “While digital is a part of the plan, but our consumers are at the heart of all our strategy. So we look to at what does our consumer care about, what is the kind of experience they desire. Over the last 12 years, we have created properties such as Bacardi NH Weekender which has enabled us to connected witho our consumers through the festival route. This way we have been able to provide great experiences,” she explained.
Additionally, the company believes that Gin is another category which seems to have seen an influx of players. For Vilcassim, this is the first category, where the Indian consumers seems to have created a flirtatious kind of relationship. “Interestingly, the same consumer who purchased a Rs 1,100 bottle of Gin, has also spent on a bottle worth Rs 5,000. We’ve seen the craft and the revolution around it happen around the world and and it’s happening right in India. In India, we know that consumers care about sustainability more than they do in other markets. So while on the global average, 30% of consumers see sustainability as a key driver in their purchase decision, in India that ration stands at 70%,” she explained.
Bacardi India claims that post the pandemic, consumers have uppted their ante when it comes to opting for premium brands. As a result the company too has upped its game and claims that it will be focussed at taking its brands pan India.