Longitude 77 Is A Labour Of Love: Kartik Mohindra
Embracing the spirit of innovation in India's alco-bev industry, Pernod Ricard India (PRI) has successfully merged personalisation and premiumisation to redefine cultural drinking experiences. Commemorating thirty years in the country, PRI has introduced Longitude 77, its inaugural foray into the Indian single malt category. The name pays homage to the 77° East meridian, symbolising India's global coordinates.
In an exclusive tete-a-tete with BW Marketing World, Kartik Mohindra, Chief Marketing Officer and Head Global Business Development, Pernod Ricard India (PRI), delves into the positioning of Longitude 77 in the competitive market, stresses the significance of experiential marketing in PRI’s overall media mix, and more.
Pointing out a key detail, Mohindra emphasises that the company sets aside 50 - 60 per cent of its comprehensive marketing budget exclusively for its experiential marketing initiatives.
Longitude 77 & Luxury
Deliberating on the plans to position Longitude 77 in the competitive landscape, Mohindra believes that this is a labour of love, painstakingly at it, to come out with the best product that the Indian single malt landscape has to offer. “It's going to be positioned right at the top of the pricing pyramid. In fact, in a few markets, even more expensive than imported single malts, because we do believe, having matured it for four years in American Bourbon barrels and rested it in wine barrels, the product is duly top of the pile. We don't want to make it mass. We want to present ourselves to the top end of the super malt consumers, the aficionados, the guys who know what they are consuming.”
The fundamental vision behind elaborating on the key features or elements that reflect the reimagined legacy of Indian luxury and Longitude 77, was twofold. First and foremost, Mohindra is of the opinion that there is a lot of quality produce in the alcobev sector, particularly whiskies, that India has to offer. “Yet we do not get the kind of respect India as a provenance for whiskies or single malts get as compared to, let's say, scotches for Scotland or Japan. And not only us, a lot of the other Indian single malt manufacturers, I think they're doing some fabulous work and we hope that individually and collectively, we can keep maintaining the authenticity, genuineness and focus on craftsmanship and quality so that we can put India on the global map.”
He continues, “Also, there is a very good wave of Indian pride that exists. A lot of Indian consumers are gravitating towards Indian luxury products which have India at its heart. And Longitude 77 is no different. But unlike others, we wanted to stand for what India is all about. India, as we all know very well, has arguably the richest diversity of culture, terroir, people and experiences. And we wanted to come up with a product that stood as a homage to the luxurious Indian consumer, celebrating its values. And that's where the genesis of the name Longitude 77 - it's our global position. It celebrates the cultural diversity right from Jammu and Kashmir, all the way down to Kanyakumari. And that's really interwoven into our brand story. The bottle comes in an Indigo coloured matte finish box, the colour that India gave to the world. Both the box and the bottle feature a stamp depicting the map of India with the Longitude 77° passing through from the north to the south, a symbol that commemorates the best of India.”
Longitude 77 has been launched in about six markets - Mumbai, Goa, Haryana, Chandigarh, Rajasthan and Delhi Duty Free; it has recently also expanded into Dubai. Due to its product and the choice to operate at the top end, the brand is looking for HNIs and above, arguably from the age of 38 to 45.
Premiumisation and personalisation
The world in the recent past has changed. Consumers can no longer clustered into homogeneous cohorts. The younger and more evolved consumers are now expecting deeper, personalised and customised engagements with any brand, regardless of price point, feels Mohindra. “As far as we are concerned, we have built strong brands in the past and that latent equity allows us to also extend the brand franchise into other categories, adjacent categories etc, so that we can extract the legend equity and the quality consciousness that we have built with the consumer. So, we go after what adds to the experience of consumers and allows us to remain top of mind with them,” he mentions, discussing the approach towards advertising and marketing to enhance the visibility of PRI’s premium brands.
Premiumisation is one of the big trends, but it’s no longer brand out for PRI. Consumers are happy to pay a premium as long as they buy into what the storytelling is about. Mohindra reveals that they do a lot of point of sale material, advocacy sessions, educating consumers about what gives them true differentiation. “We like to be involved with the fabric of their lives. So, a multiplicity of tailor made experiences that we have to offer, differentiated by brand, allows us to create those meaningful relationships with our consumers. Further, we've also expanded a lot of our presence. Again, driven by consumer insight and trends, we have extended a lot of our brands into no-alcohol categories like Jameson Ginger Ale, Jacob’s Creek Unwind, Absolut Mixers. All these put together enhance the consumer experience and widens our scope of interactions.”
Technology & PRI
Arguably the biggest challenge that marketers face today is the ever evolving capability that digital has to offer. According to Mohindra, digital as a medium, has made many changes. Earlier it was that brands used to send out messaging. The consumer had no choice but to take it. But now every conversation is a two-way conversation. “So at one level it allows us to communicate, but it also allows us to get meaningful insight, get feedback, get love from the consumer and make some meaningful conversations with them. But what it also means as a flip is that every such conversation, you no longer have one homogeneous audience out there. You have to cater to little differences with each of the audiences, and therefore it makes a task more difficult. But if done right, that's probably the magic pool that exists today.”
Mohindra cites the instance of Royal Stag’s deep partnership with ICC Cricket. “This time around, we created a generative AI campaign where we shot a video and then using social media, we allowed the consumers to very simply upload a selfie, and within three minutes, the tool would churn their face into that communication and gave them a chance to participate in brand communications. It allowed them to have a significantly deeper engagement. We created a dream. A billion dreams for a billion people.”
Even though this effort was very unique, and the brand got some incredible traction in implementing such an initiative, Mohindra understands that it doesn't mean that they've cracked the code because such is the fast pace of evolution. “What we did a month ago may not, may see better and more superior and more complicated versions within two months. But I think the digital medium also allows us to experiment, test, learn, optimise, learn trends, and therefore use the data strategy that digital has as a capability to make even better meaningful conversations and relationships with the consumers.”
Emergence of the female cohort
Keeping in mind the new Jacob’s Creek campaign that was unveiled this year, Mohindra believes that as a category, wine is a very interesting category and it allows for arguably the most expansive usage as compared to anything else – you can use it for gifting, pair it with your meals, or sip on it after a rough day's work.
Also, very interestingly, it's a category which has an equal amount of endorsement between the male and female cohorts. “The female cohort, in our view, is fascinating and we are betting big on them becoming a very strong force reckoned within the years to come, especially for the premium end of the portfolio, because we know women may consume lesser than the male counterparts, but they are also very choosy and far more driven with the world of premiumisation. So, again, they spend more - they may drink less, but they drink better. So that's very interesting. This is also gaining a lot of interesting traction for us. So we are keeping our eyes and ears very close to the ground to learn from this.”
Mohindra reveals that PRI is going to be taking an evangelistic route and trying to create a new category with a brand called Lillet, designed and curated specifically for the female cohort. Lillet is available in two variants - Blanc and Rose', crafted to deliver a nuanced aperitif experience. An aperitif is a drink usually taken before a meal to stimulate the appetite.
Building successful events and IPs
Mohindra doesn’t think that era exists anymore where a brand will keep messaging its consumer. “I think the consumer demands more. It doesn't matter what category, what price point, till they have a touch and feel and the experience of the whole universe that a brand is in, they're not likely to be impressed.”
He does like to believe that Pernod Ricard led the way in terms of creating IPs which have stood the test of time. “It doesn't mean that we just repeat, cut, copy, paste year after year. What it means is that we find ways to make sure that it continuously evolves with the consumer so that our relevance scores are again top of the pile.”
Mohindra quotes that the Blenders Pride Fashion tour is a great example. It's been around for about 17- 18 odd years. It has been and continues to be the flagship fashion platform or experiential platform of the country.
“Our consumers and media partners look forward to it year after year and it's been pivotal in us making Blenders Pride into the market leader that it is. And over the years again, it's moved on from being a fashion show to something much deeper. For example, last year we experimented - we had the whole show, but we also did a metaverse experience because the digital world allows us to do such things right now there are consumers, there are enthusiasts, there are fashion people wanting to see what's happening and they're sitting away from the four cities that we activate and they're in their respective places but we still allow them to get a deeper feel for the event,” he emphasises.
Mohindra also brings out that PRI has been partners with Sunburn, which this year has just become bigger. “There are 24 gigs across the country. Absolut owns the future of nightlife in India and a big part of this is their association with Sunburn. It's a superb line-up this year. Nothing better to reach the pulse of the young Indian consumers, both men or women, and it's absolutely wonderful. So that's something that works beautifully. So, again, across our brands, I think we found our own respective niche, and that's what we go after.”
