How Bacardi Grew Media Coverage by 700% with Cision

Bacardi’s communications strategies for Good Spirited aim to build and leverage relationships with third-party advocates and independent organizations to validate its sustainability initiative objectives, supported by an effective measurement program.

At a minimum, the company aims to put back as much as is taken out of the environment and position themselves as best-in-class for CSR in the spirits industry. To that end, Bacardi committed to and promoted a range of initiatives such as eliminating the use of straws (#NoStraws) in all cocktails at in-house corporate events and its brand visitor centers. Bacardi also built bat caves to help protect real bats at the company’s rum-bottling facility campus in Jacksonville, Florida.

To support this strategy, Bacardi partnered with the Cision team to develop a bi‑yearly insights report highlighting the performance of its CSR communications. This focused on release performance and earned media coverage (sentiment, prominence, and top media and authors). Bacardi and Cision met regularly to discuss upcoming campaigns and adjust metrics accordingly.

Their communications objectives included educating global  stakeholders on Bacardi’s sustainability commitment and inspiring audiences to take action at work and at home.

For Bacardi, the quality – not just the quantity – of earned media coverage was key.  Cision tracked sentiment, prominence, top media and authors, as well as pickup on key messages, goals, and initiatives as defined by Bacardi. To evaluate the campaign's press release performance, the team tracked clip origin, press release syndication, asset presence, key messages, goals, initiatives, and quotes from spokespeople.

Bacardi met with the Cision team regularly to discuss upcoming campaigns and adjust metrics accordingly. An executive summary was also created bi-monthly to ensure the team had the most up-to-date information for decision-making.

“We use the reports to gauge how encompassing our outreach efforts are quarter-by-quarter and year-over-year in a variety of KPIs. These results are shared with senior leaders to show progress and commitment to the global platform. We also use the insights in the reports to learn what messages, brands and initiatives resonate the most with our various audiences,” added Federman. “The approach has been very strategic in targeting select stakeholders (NGOs, regulators, sustainability community, CSR platforms, partners) rather than a one-size-fits-all consumer approach.”

Bacardi Good Spirited insights report with Cision showed effective results in terms of media coverage and awareness. For example, the report demonstrated that media coverage increased by more than 700% compared to the previous reporting period. Their earned media coverage increased by exactly 300%, with more results coming from a variety of highly relevant trade‑specific publications. 

They also saw a 30% year-over-year increase in web traffic and their press release distributed on PR Newswire was picked up and redistributed by The Associated Press, increasing the coverage and awareness of the campaign.

Bacardi uses the information gathered in the reports to then shape the next six to 12 months of the campaign. For example, Bacardi noticed that while their stakeholders expected standard CSR-related actions and commitments (reduction in GHG emissions, issue a CR Report, etc.)

“The approach has been very strategic in targeting select stakeholders (NGOs, regulators, sustainability community, CSR platforms, partners) rather than a one-size-fits-all consumer approach.”