werbung
Driven out of their Cuban homeland and burdened with the loss of the entire commercial facilities on the island, the Bacardi company had to adapt quickly in order to maintain its status as an internationally-recognized brand. The president of Bacardi, Pepin Bosch, opted for a strategy of fast expansion into new markets.
The first step into the new epoch was to safeguard the brand copyright in those countries to which Bacardi had been exported until the company’s exodus from Cuba. The company instigated lawsuits in all the regions where rum from their Cuban distilleries was sold and thus ensured that only the Bacardi company, as the copyright owner, was permitted to sell rum bearing the Bacardi label. The most significant decision was the verdict in a British court in 1968, which led to the new Cuban state finally dropping its claims on the brand.
In the second step, Pepin Bosch invested in new distilleries and bottling plants. Within just a few years, the company expanded to open facilities in Brazil, the Bahamas, Canada, Martinique, Panama and Spain. "Fidel Castro stole 70 million dollars from us and we don’t even feel it", said Bosch confidently in an interview at the time. Parallel to the establishment of the broadly-scattered international facilities, a quality-control centre was built in Nassau in order to ensure that Bacardi rum was produced to the same quality everywhere in the world.
In the 1960s the company launched major advertising campaigns in the USA, promoting Bacardi rum as a mixer drink. One of the most successful was the collaboration with Coca-Cola, a campaign that was launched in 1965 in the USA. Sales of Bacardi literally exploded as a result. From sales of 1.7 million cases in 1960, they increased to 10 million cases by 1976. Even up to the present day, this remains the most dramatic growth of any brand in the spirits industry that has ever occurred. By 1980, Bacardi was already the most popular brand of spirits in the entire USA. Furthermore, roughly two thirds of all rum sold worldwide bore the label with the bat symbol.
With the purchase of the Italian company Martini & Rossi in 1993, as well as the acquisition of the Bombay Sapphire gin brand in 1997, the Bacardi company began to expand its activities beyond its core business. Bacardi, the product of a Cuban family which is rooted in Miami’s Cuban exile scene to this day, now holds its place among the most valuable brands in the entire world.
Further articles:
The roots of the Bacardi family (history of Bacardi, part 1)
How Bacardi Rum was born (history of Bacardi, part 2)
Bacardi Cocktails (history of Bacardi, part 3)
Exodus from Cuba (history of Bacardi, part 4)
Comung soon: The Portfolio of Bacardi (history of Bacardi, part 6)
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Published in Mixology Issue 05/2009.
Author: Lukas Reimer
Translation: Alexander Zuckrow
Link: www.bacardi.com
Tanja Bempreiksz
