When Paul Wright decided to take on the role of chief marketing officer for BACARDI USA, he knew there were big shoes to fill, but he didn’t think twice. A global leader, BACARDI has a venerable tradition of brand quality, history and heritage. The secret to their success is simple math.
“We basically go out and look at what is going on in the marketplace. We look at the people that have the cutting-edge, new products. Take exotic fruits for example, we look at the good, strong flavors that companies use in other types of businesses. We try to gauge which will have commercial success and [offer] options for our consumers who really love great taste in their beverage,” Wright says.
The recent launch of BACARDI Dragon Berry, their latest flavored rum infused with strawberry and dragon fruit is what Wright describes like an instructor ticking off multiple choice answers, “A. Great tasting and B. [Has] some health benefits.”
Wright, who is the former vice president of Sprite and Flavors Brand Business for Coca-Cola North America knows a little something about innovation and driving growth. “I manage [BACARDI’s] marketing department, which is made up [of] six major categories [and] brand groups [including], the marketing services group [and] the trade marketing group,” he says.
“I think BACARDI is an absolutely wonderful company. It is privately held but has the muscle to be publicly held. We have great big brands that have a big attraction in the marketplace,” adds Wright.
According to Wright, the secret to BACARDI’s flavored rums high quality is, “[Ours] differ from other flavored spirits because [we] start with BACARDI rum, and to start with a high quality base product is fantastic. The brand is a unique brand, we have three major rum lines and they each have a distinct flavor grouping.” –yvette caslin
