Rum and Captain Jack Sparrow part ways in new Bacardi launch
Rum’s image as the alcohol of choice for pirates and troublemakers has prevented it from becoming a prestigious spirit, with premium rum only representing 15% of the total rum range.
A new launch from Bacardi, Anejo Cuatro gold rum, represents the spirits company’s effort to disrupt the premium rum industry.
Sarah Doyle, vice president of marketing for Bacardi Europe, says, “This launch is the most disruptive product in the category for a generation. We’re really trying to educate people on why rum is having this great moment. It’s really this notion of accessible premium where before you had either very low or very high-quality rum, which is just for sipping. What Cuatro gives you is an interest in trying premium but without being intimidating so you can really elevate your cocktail experience.”
Doyle attributes Bacardi’s delayed participation in the premium spirits trend to rum’s “misunderstood” image that “is plagued by pirates and punch when it fact it has one of the most diverse flavoured profiles of all the spirits.”
In addition to the launch, Bacardi has planned to sponsor several festivals and will also be collaborating with artists throughout the year. Doyle says, “Rum is a spirit that really makes you want to get up and dance. It’s in your blood it makes you want to move, the same as music, so the two really go hand in hand.”
Bacardi rum’s reputation is not among the best in the rum industry with internet rum review platform Rum Ratings rating it only 3.7 out of 10 and central source for all published brand rankings Ranking the Brands showing a slow but steady decline in all global rankings from 2014 up to this day. Despite that, Bacardi was named one of world’s most reputable companies for the fifth year in a row by Forbes magazine in 2017.
With that in mind, Bacardi’s new campaign aims to restore the brand reputation and enter a new era that welcomes a new audience of sophisticated consumers.
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