Marketing to Humans (and Bots) in a Digital World | Alex Tomlin, Bacardi

Full transcript "The strongest brands aren't built by chasing culture," says Alex Tomlin, regional CMO of Bacardi North America. "The strongest brands are built by earning a place within culture." For example, Alex says, look at the story of the Grey Goose Honey Deuce. It's been the U.S. Open's signature cocktail since 2007, and the recipe has never changed, but a sharper brief helped turn it into what Alex calls "a 19-year overnight success story," with more than 873,000 sold at this year's tournament. And he's more convinced than ever that activations at music festivals and other events are worth doing. "In a world where digital content is limitless, it's flawless, and it's hard to verify what's real ... I think there's going to be a premium value applied to real-life experiences," Alex says. Today on Building Better CMOs, Alex and Greg talk about how marketers can show up when consumers ask AI chatbots for recommendations; why Bacardi "will not buckle" on using real people in its ads, including Patrón's new spot from Guillermo del Toro; and how the company joined the celebration around Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show. Plus: The three questions that, for Alex, add up to a high-performing team. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 1:10 Bacardi's Legacy and the Iconic Bat Logo 4:55 Grey Goose and the U.S. Open Honey Deuce 7:39 The Marketing Brief That Drove Explosive Growth 15:23 Marketing to Bots and AI Search Algorithms 23:16 Leadership, Team Culture, and Proving Marketing Impact 32:53 Earning a Place in Culture Through Experiences 38:19 Social Connection and the Loneliness Epidemic 39:58 Marketing Lessons for Other Product Categories This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LightningPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: https://lightningpod.fm/ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Building Better CMOs in your podcast app⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: https://pod.link/1689135815 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Rate and review the podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: https://bettercmos.com/review?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=description