In its new global campaign “Untamable”, Bacardi displays its struggle since its introduction in Cuba in 1862 and the revolutionary government led by Fidel Castro that seized Bacardi’s Cuban assets in 1960. 

One ad reads: “Some men are kicked out of bars, others are kicked out of countries.” Another reads “Earthquakes, fires, exile, prohibition, Sorry fate – you picked the wrong family.”

In a visual advertisement filmed at night, actor Jordi Molla represents a Bacardi scion, walking uphill in the middle of a winding cobbled street filled with men demolishing casks with sledgehammers, red-flags waving and beret-wearing actors depicting Cuban revolutionaries. A voice-over says “The Bacardi family didn’t just survive- we thrived; because true passion can’t be tamed. Bacardi- untamable since 1862.” Bacardi declines to state how much it spent on advertisement, but its known that in 2012 they spent $43.1m on ads in the US.

Typical alcohol brands depict situations where liquor is used in times of cheerful social gatherings, and Bacardi is trying to break the norm by focusing on a history unique to the brand, targeting the 18-29 age groups as they hold the highest consumption of rum among younger drinkers, according to a Mintel survey.

Bacardi leads the rum category with a 35.4% share of the volume sold in the US in 2012. Marketing Professor David Vinjamuri at the New York University says “It’s certainly distinctive and ownable in the sense that Bacardi has a history that other brands cannot point to. There’s a very significant trend underway in marketing and advertising communications about content driven brands, and they’re not selling products, they’re selling content.”

Sources:

Newman, Andrew Adam. “Bacardi Campaign Focuses on Resilience, Rather Than Rum.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 17 Nov. 2013. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.