Captain Morgan aimed to make the brand the #1 party icon in India's whisky-dominated alcohol market. The strategy was to associate Captain Morgan with fun, memorable nights through experiential events featuring the Captain mascot. To engage more consumers, especially younger online users, the campaign created a Captain Morgan Facebook page. It grew to over 1,700 fans in three months by posting photos from events and encouraging users to interact and share their own photos. This viral sharing of event experiences online doubled the reach of the offline events and helped establish Captain Morgan as a brand for legendary nights and parties.

1. Describe the business challenge:Describe the business challenge:
Captain Morgan is the 6th
largest spirit in the world & the no. 2 bar call in US – Captain & Cola. Also though Captain Morgan is the #1
fastest growing global priority brand within Diageo it was a very late entrant in the Indian alcohol market. Also historically India has always
been a Whisky market with 70% share & thus it was a big challenge for a new brand like Captain Morgan to enter & then also grow the dark
rum category
Describe the consumer challenge:Describe the consumer challenge:
The vision of the brand was to make Captain Morgan the #1 party icon and the key consumer challenge was to communicate the fact that
Captain Morgan is the brand that best sparks legends because of the ‘The Captain’s fun loving, mischievous personality & larger than life
party spirit – as well as the brand’s always popular, great flavor – in an interesting manner
Insight (Business Context):Insight (Business Context):
“Guys want to be a part of creating unforgettable stories that connect them with their friends”
Strategy (Business Opportunity):Strategy (Business Opportunity):
The underlining strategy of the brand is: Consumer+Captain Icon+Captain & Cola = Legendary Times.
As part of this strategy Captain & his morganettes hijack parties in pubs & discotheques. The Captain then activates the party in such a way
that it becomes a night to remember. The core idea is to bring alive ‘Got a little Captain in you?’ philosophy. Hence our strategy was to
amplify the On-Ground experiential events of Captain Morgan & drive further engagement with consumers
Activation (Innovation):Activation (Innovation):
We understood that our key target audience is –
More Online than watching TV
Taps in social forums, social media & is glued to his mobile 24X7
Facebook is a key place where he connects with friends & shares experiences
Hence put simply we needed to be there – We identified Facebook as a platform which is the ideal fit for the Captain to build his home.
Through an extensive enrollment & experiential activity on Facebook we almost doubled the last night party experience by also accessing
consumers who did not attend the event. At every event we took photographs which were then posted & also reminded consumers to
share their own snaps. This further helped the party goers to comeback on Facebook and Tag themselves, which again created a viral effect
as their friends too could view the snaps.
We also leveraged the power & personality of the live Captain figure by his constant interaction with his Facebook fans by creating
excitement around “Talk like a Pirate Day”, “Recruit your personal crew and become a Captain”, “Whats the Captain in you?” etc
Captivation (Client Delight):Captivation (Client Delight):
Within a span of 3 months the Captain Morgan fanbook page has a total fan page of 1793 with more than 60 weekly interactions. As per
Diageo’s internal data this is the highest no. of fans they have been able to get in any fan page across the globe in the shortest period of
time. The real captivation is the way consumers write & share their photos with the Captain which is a high in itself for the team & the
client.
Submitting Agency: Starcom Worldwide (India)
Client/Brand: Diageo
Campaign Title: Captain on Facebook
Client Description: Liquor
Date Beginning-Date End: August ’10 onwards
Contact Vehicles: Online
CATEGORY: Digital
Agency Credit
Sankalp Bala -+919867088408
sankalp.bala@starcomindia.net
Sankalp Bala, Shilpa, Pranshu Sharma,Girish
Upadhyay,Saurabh Tyagi