[00:00:00] Donny Dvorin: Modern marketing changes fast and great marketers needed edge marketers from challenger brands need to be especially brave this season. All our guests from challenger brands join us as they unveil the strategies and tactics behind the risks that they’ve taken. They’ll talk about the biggest coldest marketing campaigns that got their brand noticed and made an impact in the industry.

[00:00:29] Hosted. Brave software and me Donny Dearborn, head of sales. Upbraid join me to get fresh new perspectives and the inspiration to say yes to brave marketing moments.

[00:00:43] You’re listening to a very special episode of the brave marketer podcast as we’re coming to you live from the brand innovators event at advertising week. In New York city. So brand innovators is a partner of ours whobefore COVID we did a [00:01:00] bunch of events and we met and mingled with a lot of different marketing influencers and thought leaders from around the country.

[00:01:06] And this year, they’re doing brand innovators more virtual, and we said, Hey, why don’t we take the brand innovators, fireside chat that we’re doing and make it a. Podcast. And so this was shown live, during ad week.

[00:01:23] Donny Dvorin: And now we’re going to replay it for you here today. And I think you’re really going to like it because you’re going to hear from Andrea Sangakkara and she’s the vice president of marketing at compari America.

[00:01:35] If you’re not familiar with compari, they make a lot of your favorite alcohol brands, such as Aperol, Campari sky. Espolon tequila, grand Marne, yea wild Turkey. and Andrea specifically is a seasoned global marketer and she’s joined compari, in 2020. but she has more than two decades of experience in the beverage and alcohol industry.

[00:01:55] And you’re going to love some of her stories about, Sean Combs. And how [00:02:00] she was working at, Diaggio before that. And specifically in this episode, you’re going to hear how Andrea markets, each of the sub-brands and how they do stuff like events for the brands and different movies that they highlight and how, event marketing plays a really massive role in their strategy because what elder way to experience alcohol, then having a drink with your friends.

[00:02:24] But before we get into today’s episode, we want to highlight our brave pick of the week. And every episode we choose a brand, that’s run an ad campaign with brave. And this week we are choosing the Motley fool. So the Motley fool is a great place where I’ve gotten a lot of my financial news about stocks, and more recently crypto, for 20 plus years.

[00:02:42] And they’re running our brave new. Ads display product. So if you scroll up from either the iPhone or from the desktop, you’ll see in a limited scroll of brave news, and that’s a private newsfeed that you can customize. And we started selling native ad [00:03:00] products right into the news feed.

[00:03:02] And they’ve been performing exceptionally well. And now for today’s episode of the brave marketer,

[00:03:15] Andrea Sengara: You’re trying to get to see you. Good to

[00:03:16] Donny Dvorin: see you again. We connected yesterday, so we’re going to do something a little bit special. I run a podcast called the brave marketer and the brave marketer is all about interviewing people that have done something unique in their career, where they took a risk and it’s paid off.

[00:03:34] So, what I would like to do today is we’re actually going to record this, you know, for Britain innovators, but also for the podcast. And we’re going to stream it on other podcasts as well. And so why don’t we start with, you, Andrea and your career, how you came up into the position that you’re at.

[00:03:47] Let’s talk about Campari, and the marketing department, and then we’ll get into some brave marketing moments and more the industry as. So why don’t you start by just telling the audience about yourself, Andrew.

[00:03:59] Andrea Sengara: All right. [00:04:00] We’ll do a wonderful to be here. Nice to see everybody,and participate in both this brand innovators podcast, as well as the brave marketer.

[00:04:09] So I’ve been in marketing for over 20 years. I’m originally from Canada. I started out up there, mostly in beverage alcohol for most of my career. So I think the most notable experiences began with Bacardi. Then I moved over to Diaggio and then I transferred with them from Canada down to the.

[00:04:25] And then I decided to move over to work with Sean Combs, leading his, wine and spirits business, working. Back with Diaggio.

[00:04:32] So saw two sides of a partnership and managed it from two different angles, which was really interesting in terms of growing my perspective.

[00:04:38] but then about a year and a half ago, I got the opportunity to lead the entire marketing group at Campari group us or Campari America. So we have over 30 different brands here in the U S

[00:04:49] That’s amazing. And as far as the marketing department goes, are there specific brand managers on each one of those brands? Like how do you handle marketing?

[00:04:57] Yeah, we have a portfolio groups, so there’s a [00:05:00] director that leads each of the European icons, which would encompass grammar and yeah.

[00:05:04] And all of our Italian icons, if some of the leads are dark spirits business. so there’s a variety of senior brand managers, associate brand managers led by a director, in each of those portfolios and then another white spirits portfolio, which would be the Mexican spirits, and

[00:05:16] Donny Dvorin: the podcast.

[00:05:17] And do they each have their own agency? Do you use the same agent? We use

[00:05:21] Andrea Sengara: a variety of different agencies. So we are really big on ensuring we have the right partners that understand the brands, understands the look and feel and tone too, will really help us bring them to life in the strongest way.

[00:05:32] But in addition to those, brand leads, we also have a new digital team that we recently created to help us navigate in this rapidly evolving. marketplace and society that we live in.

[00:05:42] Donny Dvorin: that’s great.

[00:05:43] And what’s the most exciting thing you’re working on right now.

[00:05:47] Andrea Sengara: Oh, my goodness.

[00:05:48] There is so much exciting stuff happening right now. So on Campari in September, we had an a week for the ninth year.

[00:05:56] So next year we’ll be going into our 10th year Negroni week is, a partnership we have with [00:06:00] imbibe and we work with the bartender and the hospitality community to, raise funds for a variety of different charitable,charities. So this past year we’re still making the tallies, but it’s almost up to 400,000 as the last I heard.

[00:06:11] I’m sure that will continue to grow as they continue to count all the contributions from the hospitality industry as well as from consumers, but that drink, as I’m sure you’re aware of has really taken off and got quite the following over the. Let’s say five years and Campari is integral.

[00:06:27] We like to call it the heart of the Negroni. We also partnered with the New York film festival. it was in its 59th year. It’s our third year of partnering with them. So we sponsor opening night. We work really closely with them throughout the festival.

[00:06:38] And it’s streaming currently on Amazon prime, but we recently showcased and opened our showing at the festival called Fellini forward. So Campari has a really rich history with the arts as a patron of the arts. Over many years, I’m supporting many different sides of that from a director perspective and an actor perspective and a producer perspective.

[00:06:58] And this year we decided we [00:07:00] wanted to try something really interesting marrying our creative side with innovation and technology. So it’s actually an exploration using AI, some of the most advanced forms of AI. To explore the creative genius of Federico Philly needs. So we partnered with a key member of his family who was integral to the production.

[00:07:18] and we explored what if we used AI, and we input a variety of,all the federal selenium. how would it tell us to make a film,based on all of those inputs. So it’s a really fascinating documentary, which I’d encourage you to check out on Amazon prime called Fellini forward.

[00:07:33] But I think that’s a really interesting example of how Campari continues to support creativity continues to support innovation and is continuing, trying to advance that conversation as we explore the limits or the lack thereof of how technology will continue to. Be a key part of our lives from an entertainment perspective.

[00:07:54] Donny Dvorin: That’s awesome. So, as I mentioned, the top of the interview,brave marketers, they take risks [00:08:00] pays off.

[00:08:01] So if you could choose one story from your career for your time at Campari, what would be that brave marketing moment for you?

[00:08:07] Andrea Sengara: I’m going to choose a moment in my career. to talk about for this it’s funny, I was thinking about this earlier, when I was going back through the different marketing experiences.

[00:08:16] I don’t feel like a lot of them were brave because I tend to have a fearless nature typically. So as long as it’s grounded in some kind of cultural insight, cultural trends,consumer sentiment and insight, it just feels like the right thing to do. And then it’s about how you manage your stakeholders, and the organization and your teams in terms of bringing that vision to life.

[00:08:35] but when I think about my career, this one feels probably like riskier thing. So as I mentioned to you earlier, I was at the ICU for quite a number of years, run 12 years, and then I made the choice. to leave. what had been a really rewarding experience, Proactively and most people thought I was absolutely nuts because I chose to leave to go join celebrity working first on Combs, who was one of our partners who currently is one of the Azure partners, [00:09:00] but it’s a very different experience, right?

[00:09:02] You’re going from very traditional matrix, corporate America to. The other end of the pendulum, and so,that was probably the bravest risk I took in my career. I never even really thought about leaving DSU ever. I was very happy.

[00:09:14] They’re growing consistently out a variety of things. Regional global local roles, all very fulfilling. and in retrospect, I’m really glad that I did it just lends a whole other perspective to how you look at society, to how you look at brand-building. it took me right into culture, right? I mean, at a certain point, you’re in meetings and you’re in meetings and boardrooms and PowerPoint a lot.

[00:09:37] And I was missing being a part of culture. got that. I swung back hard. and I think It gave me a big appreciation for how you build really successful partnerships with people and organizations that live and breathe and create culture, which I think is actually quite the skill. in our industry, figuring out who those right [00:10:00] partnerships are.

[00:10:01] How you successfully build authentic ones, and it gave a whole new meaning to the word agile.

[00:10:06] Donny Dvorin: so talk to me about where you think. Marketing or advertising is going, if you were to pick some things that were like, okay, that was so the past 10 years. And as I look forward, this is where it’s going the next 10 years to something come up in your mind,

[00:10:25] Andrea Sengara: listen, this is an expected answer. there’s two things that come immediately to my mind.

[00:10:29] So the first is understanding the digital list. I think that’s really, really critical and important as a marketer today. when you think of the frame you gave me right last 10 years, next 10 years, I mean the transition to how you engage. Digitally how you engage in a hybrid model that is only accelerating at a very quick pace.

[00:10:50] So for me, that’s, a really, really big one that I’m,very focused on and that my teams are really focused on. the other one is around sort of like experiences. I think we’ve always been so [00:11:00] siloed. I think, as a industry in general, about how we think about different disciplines within marketing.

[00:11:06] And really now everything needs to be seamless and frictionless. So we know we need experts to help us in different parts of that consumer customer experience coming to life, but figuring out how we really connect that as seamlessly as possible. It’s still easy for me to sit here and say it is so hard to actually really do that well.

[00:11:27] So really figuring out how to correct. Seamless experiences that give you just those right messages and just that right. Content that, just that right time, just that right place. that to me is the magic that we all continue to strive for. but it’s still remain slightly

[00:11:43] Donny Dvorin: elusive. Yeah. And when you say experiences, are you talking about in person events or are you talking about.

[00:11:50] Online ads or what do you think of when you talked about experiences?

[00:11:54] Andrea Sengara: it encompasses all of that for me. I think we really have to think about when we engage consumers, that is an [00:12:00] experience and now experiences aren’t just live. And in-person, that’s typically how we thought about it. Now people have really robust experiences on the.

[00:12:11] It really robust experiences,with multiple different screens, when you’re watching something on the TV and you have your phone and you have your iPad. So to me, those are all. moments that you’re experiencing our brand. So how are we being as engaging as possible in those?

[00:12:26] and just the context of experiences has just evolved. So considerably those in-person events are also digital moments as well, right? So people are in those live moments on their phones, or they’re also streaming it. and some people are experiencing it live. So I will ecosystem I, that’s why I look at it holistically.

[00:12:44] It’s online and offline. We need to consider them really holistically And how do we optimize our resources from an investment perspective, a human resource perspective, and make the right choices. Which parts of that experience are the most important, which will be most impactful.

[00:12:59] [00:13:00] Where do we have the most relevance? what makes sense for us to invest a little bit more heavily in because the consumer will be more engaged.

[00:13:06] Donny Dvorin: And you mentioned when I was asking about the different, Oregon departments, you mentioned there was like a digital group. but now we’re talking about making sure everything is holistic.

[00:13:15] How does that work when you have a specific digital group, but everything must be holistic.

[00:13:19] Andrea Sengara: Oh, it’s called, the collaboration model, Dani

[00:13:26] Donny Dvorin: big whiteboard with the biggest thing for collaboration model. And there’s all these different sections of it.

[00:13:31] Andrea Sengara: We talk about it all the time. I don’t believe like one person doesn’t get everything done. That’s just not how the world works anymore. It’s impossible. It is impossible for one person to marketing all yourself and to know enough about how to optimize all the different parts of that experience requires different levels of expertise now.

[00:13:50] I really preach collaboration. to me, the digital group, it’s part of the marketing team. So we’re all the marketing team and they should feel. An extension of the brand teams [00:14:00] in those specific areas. So they’re like consultants, but also executor’s when it comes to their areas of expertise.

[00:14:08] and they’re involved from the beginning, right? Like they’re involved at the beginning so they can help shape how a program comes to life, feeding in insights from these key areas that maybe not everybody has the same type of experience with, but it’s working closely together. So we spend a lot of time.

[00:14:23] Outlining, the formal ways of working documents, taking each task. Who’s the R who’s the da, who’s the C who’s the I, so all that’s been done, but at the end of the day, it’s about making sure we embrace, the added level of knowledge and expertise coming into the team,and collaboratively having the same vision of wanting to have the biggest impact with whatever program we’re talking about on whichever brand we’re talking about.

[00:14:45] and leaving some ego at the door, and everyone focusing on really working together to get it done.

[00:14:50] Donny Dvorin: Is there stuff that you just don’t use anymore? Like,is there something where in our marketing world, like it’s changing, used to be really into email, but you’re not [00:15:00] using it as much or it was, we were doing billboards and we’re not doing it, but I don’t know.

[00:15:03] I’m just making it up.

[00:15:04] Andrea Sengara: I don’t know if there’s something that we just don’t do anymore, but I think, I think what’s changed is, how we use them like billboards, I, we’re very strategic about how we use out-of-home today versus how perhaps definitely versus how we used it 10 years ago.

[00:15:18] right. Like 10 years ago, it was very much like Marquis must be here. Critical. And now it’s a little bit more there’s some of that, but I think it’s a little bit less of that big stature. and sometimes more about like specific moments and occasions and experiences, that we’re looking to have a holistic, activations around

[00:15:39] I think we’re a little bit more strategic and the reasons as to why we use things has changed.

[00:15:44] Donny Dvorin: That’s helpful. Got it. Yeah. And we have a question coming in about Pinterest. Can you talk about your activations on.

[00:15:52] Andrea Sengara: Yes, Pinterest is really interesting. We can do a lot more there. I think we’ve talked about that as a team.

[00:15:56] Pinterest is an interesting place where, consumers, aren’t [00:16:00] very interested in looking at different cocktails. So it’s a place to be focused on. an occasion. So what’s the occasion, birthdays, weddings, celebrations, different culturalist seasonal moments, and really focused on bringing to life different types of cocktail occasions.

[00:16:14] Donny Dvorin: I’ll ask you very aspirational marketing question. Okay. You had an unlimited marketing. Oh, what would you do with it? what, what are some of the things that you think about in the room? And you’re like, I love to do this, but we just don’t have the budget.

[00:16:28] Andrea Sengara: I would look at creating some really exciting partnerships in the entertainment marketing world.

[00:16:33] So partnering with some key properties that would help us bring to life, the key occasion at the right moment, at the right time with our brands. I would do that. That’s what I would do. That’s what I really want to do a lot more of with our brands.

[00:16:48] Donny Dvorin: And, from an organizational standpoint, any challenges that come up within, your company, it’s sometimes you talk to marketers that work for very, very large companies and they talk about the bureaucracy or they [00:17:00] just, they can’t get things done.

[00:17:01] It sounds like you guys have been pretty nimble and getting stuff done, but any challenges that come up.

[00:17:05] Andrea Sengara: challenges. I mean, I would just reiterate what you said. I I’ve been really impressed with how agile we are able to be, in terms of responding to different changes, happening

[00:17:14] Fully transparently. I think, you know, we’re part of a global company. we have to make sure that we are doing a really good job of educating our global counterparts about the challenges that we face in the U S so that everybody understands why we want to go in certain directions. I think that’s something that we spend time on making sure everyone’s really clear on why we want to go in a certain way.

[00:17:35] because people operate from different contexts is based on, what their experiences have been.

[00:17:40] Donny Dvorin: I talked about brave in the beginning and that we’re, really focused on online privacy where privacy browser, how are you guys thinking about privacy?

[00:17:48] Andrea Sengara: we think we 100% respect, our consumer’s privacy. So I think we want to ensure consumers have a positive, voluntary interaction with our brands and our products. I think, [00:18:00] we’re more at the beginning side of our sort of digital journey. So I think we’re evaluating different partners in terms of how we ensure we can operate.

[00:18:09] effectively as possible,for our customer base for the organization. But we take that very seriously. It’s something that we’re actively evaluating and looking at to ensure that we are showing up in the most responsible way to consumers that wants to have interactions and engagement.

[00:18:25] Donny Dvorin: Got it.

[00:18:26] Emily Berg has a question. She asks, what’s a good example of how your field marketing org has translated larger brand campaigns into local activations and partners.

[00:18:36] Andrea Sengara: Yeah, we have a whole, section of our sales teams that are focused on just that around the country. So they do an amazing job taking some of the larger scale, programs that we have in bringing them to life locally,

[00:18:48] I can’t think of one specific one, but I know that we’re looking at like local film opportunities building off campaigns. with Aperol, spritz and pizza, I know we’re doing a lot of work from a regional perspective of partnering [00:19:00] with local, pizza organizations or gourmet piece organizations and facilitating being able to deliver Aperol and pizza together.

[00:19:06] So they’re taking that concept that we’re doing in a very high level and really executing it very strongly at a local.

[00:19:13] Donny Dvorin: I have one last question for you. so the whole season, for the brave marketers all been about challenger brands, and if you consider compari a challenger brand,

[00:19:22] Andrea Sengara: I would consider, some of our brands, challenger brands 100%.

[00:19:27] Yes. we’re not the number one in the category, so yes, yes I would.

[00:19:31] Donny Dvorin: Okay. So if you’re the number one in the category, how does the marketing change versus you being a challenger brand in the category?

[00:19:37] Andrea Sengara: Okay. So being a challenger brand, I think there’s a few different things.

[00:19:41] Typically there’s less investment associated with the challenger brands than with the number one, just based on the amount of value you’re generating and the amount of reinvestment you’re able to make. So the biggest difference in my opinion is like, how are you more scrappy and savvy in terms of how you’re choosing to engage your consumer, first of all, how are you finding them and [00:20:00] how are you engaging them in a more cost-effective way?

[00:20:02] So you can reach. as many as possible and haven’t even stronger impact then you are number one. But to me, that’s the big mindset shift. Like how can you be scrappier, then the big budgets. Cause that’s the big difference between number one and number two. So I also get to focus more and prioritize more.

[00:20:19] You can’t do everything. You can’t win every battle. your insights around your consumer and identifying your passion points and going hard after one or two of those? So you have the impact there, even though it’s not going to be all year long, like perhaps the number one would have, those are just a very few high level examples

[00:20:35] that concludes our interview. Thank you so so much, Andrea, this was great meeting you the past couple of days and hopefully the audience,

[00:20:42]

[00:20:42] Donny Dvorin: are you liking our podcast?

[00:20:46] Do you like what you hear? And I asked that because you know, be really helpful if you just took two seconds, maybe 30 seconds and wrote us a review on apple podcasts. This helps us get into more [00:21:00] ears So just give us a shout out, put him a couple of words.

[00:21:03] And it says, and the reviews would be really helpful. Thank you. And on a final note, if you’re a marketer and you’ve got a brand product or service that you’d like to get in Braves 40 million users, and can you believe we’re up to 40 million users? just shoot us an email at ad sales at braille. Calm 80 S a L E s@brave.com.

[00:21:21] Let us know you’re a podcast listener. and if your budget is under 10 K a month, we’ll bump you up to the top of our self-serve waiting list. If your budget is under $10,000 a month, you’ll qualify for a 25% podcast listener discount. Again, that’s ad sales@brave.com and finally musical credits. Go to my older brother, Ari divorce and special, special thanks to our production, geniuses, Sam, and sheds.

[00:21:45] And until next side.