How to build a beverage brand: Campari America on creating global icons

With a background in marketing at Campari and PepsiCo, Batchelor has built up brands across both the alcohol and soft drink categories. 

She took up the role as Managing Director Campari America last year, having joined Campari in 2011 as Marketing Director Australia & Pacific and moved through the company in marketing, sales and MD roles. 

Prior to joining Campari, she spent 11 years with PepsiCo, including as European Marketing Director (CSD).

Is building alcohol and soft drinks brands the same - or are they completely different entities? What is her definition of 'success'? And how does she make difficult decisions in a top job?

BeverageDaily's 'How to Build a Beverage Brand' series is here to find out...

You’re Campari America’s Managing Director. What does this job involve?

I'm responsible for all of the operations of our US based business unit for Campari Group globally. Almost 30% of the total group net sales come out of the US, so I manage everything from the strategy to the day-to-day management of the company.

What’s one of the most successful brands in your portfolio – to your eyes – and why?

I'd love to talk about two brands.

The first – one that’s quite visible today and we talk a lot about – is Aperol. I'm really proud of the work that we've done in the US and globally as a company. It's been a huge success for the group.

We've been investing quite significantly in Aperol for about seven or eight years now. And really building that from a very small brand - we took the brand in house when it was less than 50,000 cases -  now it's the dominant brand that's really been the force behind the building of a whole spritz category in the US.

It's an amazing product, the Aperol spritz is a refreshing cocktail, it plays into a lot of trends that we were starting to see bubble up - for example low alcohol cocktails.

But we'd also seen the success of the brand in many countries - primarily Italy - but many other countries around the world. And so we also had an idea from the playbook of how to build this brand, which is really based on experiential: giving consumers the opportunity to try it, and also a big role for social media.

And actually, back when we really started investing, we saw the opportunity with Instagram and influencers just given how beautiful the product is.

We’ve been really consistent, going city by city, expanding the brand: it’s very relevant in culture and I think we're just starting to tap the opportunity we have in the US.

But the second brand is one that people don't talk about so much, but I'm super proud of the work we've done as a company on Wild Turkey.

We acquired that brand in 2009. We just celebrated the 70th anniversary of our master distiller, Jimmy Russell - he's an absolute legend in the bourbon industry.

And it was the first brand I worked on when I moved to the US. I had the opportunity to go and spend some time with the Russell family - there's three generations all working at Wild Turkey, which is incredible - and realized there was this amazing American story behind this family. Jimmy was doing so many things to create this quality bourbon; the opportunity was to premiumize the brand to match the quality.

Step by step, we've done a really phenomenal job in the last 10 years of elevating the brand through the packaging, the communications and also innovation. And I see the brand is very respected by bartenders.

The brand’s always had a very loyal fan base, but I think people are now coming to appreciate the brand in the way that they should because it's really an incredible American icon and I think there's still a lot of opportunity to continue to spread the word on Wild Turkey.

You spent 11 years with PepsiCo before coming to Campari in 2011. Is building soft drink brands and the same as building alcohol brands?

There are some fundamental principles that are the same. I think one of the similarities that I've seen between my journey with Campari and PepsiCo is the model of building big global brands, but also making them locally relevant. And I’ve had the opportunity both with PepsiCo and with Campari, to spend a good amount of time in global, regional and local marketing roles.

So really understanding what's the role of having a really consistent and clear positioning and brand visual identity and strategy. But then the importance of building brands in culture.

Another brand I’m super proud of is Espolon, which we bought in 2009. We had a very clear positioning. A very iconic bottle. But then the way we built that brand was quite disruptive: we really focused on building it in the on-premise, we went with a very non traditional approach to marketing, but we invested a lot because we saw the opportunities.

People weren't noticing the brand, but it was growing year by year and now it’s one of the leading premium tequilas.

So I think that combination of having very clear global strategy but also the importance of understanding local culture and nuances is where I see the magic happen.

Most memorable marketing campaign you’ve worked on?

Wild Turkey. It was very simple, and that’s what I love about it, because it was a simple idea but hugely impactful.

We had just finished doing a lot of work around the positioning of Wild Turkey and really trying to think about: how do we spread this story quickly around the quality of this product and the Great American story?

We went with a partnership with a celebrity, which is not a groundbreaking idea, but we partnered with Matthew McConaughey and he was a great fit for the brand. He was very involved as creative director, and helped create and direct the ads we did and the comms plan was great.

But when we're out filming in Kentucky, it was just before Thanksgiving, and we were thinking about what's something we can do to give back?

One of the things Matthew loved about the brand was that generation story, but also the impact it’d had on the local community. So we partnered with Butterball Turkeys and all of us – everyone at the distillery, marketing team and Matthew as well – went out and gave a turkey to every single household in Lawrenceburg.

Literally within an hour, People magazine heard that Matthew was going around door to door in Lawrenceburg. There were so many human stories... he even gave a Turkey to a bride.

This idea to give back to the community tied in so well with the brand, it was very authentic.

What’s your top tip to other beverage brand builders?

Get out of the office and spend time with the consumer.

One of the first projects I did when I took over as marketing director for the US back in 2016 was work with a company called eatbigfish, a well-known brand building company. I said: 'I want you to help our marketers walk in our consumers’ shoes'.

And we developed all these exercises. We've got 40 brands in our portfolio, but we picked some very different brands and groups of people just had to go and immerse themselves in the consumers' world. The Espolon crew spent more time in Brooklyn in really cool venues, whereas the team working on 40 Creek Whiskey were at Bass Pro Shops. 

We spend a lot of time in the office, but it’s about making the time to go out and be immersed in our consumers’ world. 

How do you encourage leadership at all levels of the organization?

Leadership doesn't mean being a people manager.

For me, it's around how do we empower all of our 'Camparistas' that they've got a leadership role in the company.

And I really do believe that's the only way to get great results.

So we have a lovely leadership model that we've been rolling out and our leadership and our values as a company are quite ingrained.

A big piece for me is around creating an environment where everyone feels like they're heard, everyone has a voice, and - where possible - I love to push the decisions down to where the action happens.

How do you make difficult decisions?

We have to make them every day and for me it's about two things.

First of all, I try to be as transparent as I can.

And for me, that's important because I think when you have to deliver bad news, if you can give context, it makes it a lot easier for people to see where the company is coming from or what went into making that decision.

But I think the second piece is you just have to have courage. Making decisions is part of any leadership role. You have to take the leap and say: that’s the job.

There’s quite a few buzzwords in marketing…

I hate marketing speak!

We’ve been working together as a leadership team to make sure we get rid of all the buzzwords in the marketing and making sure that that the language is really simple and clear so that my sales team know what they need to go execute.

How do you start and end your working day?

I have quite a strict routine at the start of the day. I wake up before 6 and I meditate a little and I have a Peloton because I realize I’m not good at getting out if it’s dark and cold.

So the combination of doing meditation and getting on the Peloton, I feel good by the time I walk to the office. So by the time I get here I feel like I've already had a good start to the day.

I tend to be in meetings all day and so, at the end of the day, it’s about having some alone time – whether that’s reading a book or just watching the news.