Bacardi trials global/local structure to break through ‘media constraints’

Bacardi has formed a new team in the UK to house its local and global creative, digital and media specialists in a bid to make upcoming attempts to tout its heritage stand out from rivals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80x27B7gbQ4

The drink maker says the cross-functional team will push “creative boundaries”. It combines all global marketing and media agencies with its communications, media and PR specialists in the UK to work on aspects of its “Untameable Since 1862” campaign, which launches nationwide on TV Sunday (16 March) and sees Bacardi join the growing list of list of liquor brands putting history over style in its marketing (see ad above). 

Bacardi has used the inter-disciplinary team to plan a full station takeover of Angel tube station after its members had examined outdoor promotions from other markets that had impacted awareness. Outdoor ads at the station will incorporate moving images when they were originally intended to be static, while  areas of the station it claims have never been covered before have also been wrapped.

The team is set to extend the process to other parts of the media mix as the campaign continues throughout the year. This will likely include Bacardi’s plan to move to digital channels beyond Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in the summer.

Lisa Jazwinski, brand director for Bacardi UK and Ireland, says it is testing the team in the UK but could extend the model to other markets should it prove successful. The objective is to identify “faster” what is working in other markets and create “local twists” capable of communicating Bacardi’s 150-year history to millenials, she adds.

Bacardi’s marketing initiative underpins its long-term strategy to go back its roots and eschew the party tone of its previous campaigns. A global TV ad, called “Procession”, (see above) follows an actor walking up a winding street as he passes a succession of floats and performers that represent the historical difficulties the rum brand has overcome.

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