Mumbai: French alcohol major Pernod Ricard recently appointed Debasree Dasgupta as chief marketing officer of its India arm. She moved back to the country from Sweden, where she was Pernod Ricard’s global vice-president and chief marketing officer for Absolut, the firm's vodka brand.
This month, Pernod Ricard launched a brand new campaign for its premium whisky brand Blender’s Pride, featuring international runway models Avanti Nagrath, Kirandeep Chahal and Mahieka Sharma, aiming to cement the brand’s 20-year association with ‘success’ and fashion.
How does this help Blender’s Pride maintain pole position in the competitive premium whiskey business? Edited excerpts:
Q. What has it been like to be back in India?
I landed very recently, in February this year, but I am extremely excited to come back to such a booming market. India is growing as a market and also rising globally from a cultural influence point of view. India is the largest whiskey market in the world.
Q. Pernod Ricard has some iconic whiskey brands in India, across price segments…
All brands aspire to be cultural icons, only a few make it. If there is a whiskey brand that has earned the right to be a cultural icon, it is Blender’s Pride. We have dabbled with campaigns that strengthen Blender’s Pride’s association with style, culture and influence. We have consciously used Blender’s Pride to shape the conversation around style in India. Blender’s Pride literally built the premium category in India. We have over 50% market share, and more than a decade of building cultural relevance.
Q. Many alcohol brands attempt to associate with the ideas of ‘style’ and ‘success’. How do you do it differently for Blender’s Pride?
The shift we see among young Indians today is that success has become more democratized because everyone has access to opportunities. So, standing apart becomes rare and today’s young Indians are no longer just chasing success.
We are now sharpening that core brand belief of standing on success for your own terms in our latest campaign ‘The One and Only’.
Q. How has Blender’s Pride benefitted from associating with fashion?
When we started Blender’s Pride Fashion Tour, Blender’s Pride was always ahead of its time in defining the idea of ‘success’. The pursuit now was how to ensure we redefine this. We chose to have [at the time] a female protagonist [brand ambassador] with actress Priyanka Chopra, who exudes that confidence and aura.
The Blender’s Pride Fashion Tour came out of that association. Fashion is now very strongly and credibly associated with Blender’s Pride even though other brands have dabbled with fashion platforms too. Our Blender’s Pride Fashion Tour is a 20-year association.
Q. Alcohol companies in India are seeing huge growth in the pricey ‘prestige & above’ segment. Does Blender’s Pride benefit from this?
India is the largest whiskey market and there is a consumer at every segment and tier, from the value segment to the deluxe and prestige segments. As India becomes more affluent, this premiumization will keep happening and every product segment will see growth by virtue of that.
In alcohol, as a category, premium products operate on the ideas of lifestyle and aspiration. You have to reflect a certain lifestyle to the consumer. The tailwinds of growth towards higher price points will help premium brands like Blender’s Pride also grow.
As Indian consumers get more curious and well-travelled, they are picking products across price segments. You may pick a spirit in the super-luxury category, and another in the premium category too. The only brands that do well are the ones who stay culturally relevant and tell a story.
Q. Marketing in this industry is leaning heavily into experiences, such as cocktail events now that Indians are digging into—complex cocktails, even at home. How has it played out for the whiskey category?
The consumer in India is getting more multi-sensorial and curated experiences will become more important. But as you go upwards [in price segments], you need to ensure you are providing experiences that are well thought through.
For all our premium and super premium brands like Chivas and Glenlivet, we are doing a lot of curated experiences. For us, Blender’s Pride Fashion Tour is also such a unique property. We work carefully with curators in the film and fashion fraternity. But the expectation from brands at each price tier will be very different.
Cocktail culture is emerging and growing, but it is still very niche. To be very honest, I think the white spirits organically lend themselves better to cocktail culture. But there are brown spirit cocktails and some of our top-end brands are leaning into that.
