Andrea Sengara

101 Great Minds on Music Brands and Behavior

Andrea Sengara, Head of Marketing, Campari Group America

Andrea Sengara is the current Head of Marketing at Campari America. A digital transformation expert at heart, Ms. Sengara’s expertise has transformed underperforming brands into award-winners. In addition to working for pre-eminent companies such as LVMH, Diageo, Bacardi and Adidas, Andrea speaks four languages. She is also a member of the prestigious ANA Masters Circle for CMO’s. Additionally, her dedication to the industry has seen her become a mentor at the Executive Mentorship Program offered by Adweek.

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“The consumer is interested; the brand has an opportunity; and the technology is now there to deliver it. All those components together create a wonderful cocktail for success. ”

— ANDREA SENGARA, HEAD OF MARKETING, CAMPARI GROUP AMERICA

Reese: Let’s start by talking about your role at the brand…

Sengara: I lead the marketing in all areas for Campari in the US; so that’s digital, entertainment marketing, media, brand building and strategic thinking. I have the great fortune of building a portfolio of over 50 brands across beverage alcohol. These include the iconic Italian brands of Aperol, Campari and Cinzano, San Francisco’s Skyy vodka, Wild Turkey Kentucky bourbon, the recently launched Longbranch Wild Turkey bourbon in partnership with Matthew McConaughey, the French icon Grand Marnier and the fabulous rums of Jamaica, as well Espolon tequila, one of the fastest-growing brands in the US and globally.

Reese: How important is sonic in building a brand?

Sengara: It’s critical. It’s one of the few senses that we have in terms of how we take in information, how we communicate and how we are feeling.

At Campari we’re trying to bring to life a moment for people. So, music, even small intimate sounds shared with others, is powerful in eliciting emotion. This is what we want people to feel when they’re in the moment and sharing our brands with their friends.

Reese: Why has there been such an incredible growth in the digital age with audio?

Sengara: Look at the success of podcasts and how brands are now playing with different ways of engaging with consumers in this new medium. There have also been a lot of advancements in sound engineering and a lot of excitement around the different headphones and sound systems, as well as significant progress in how a great sound can actually improve your experience. The different parts have come together; the consumer is interested, the brand has an opportunity and the technology is now there to deliver it. All those components together create a wonderful cocktail for success. We spend so much time on what the visual identity looks like but it’s important that we understand what our sonic identity looks like. You sometimes can’t see everything, but you can hear it. The clearer we are as brands about how we need to show up when you can hear us, at the right time at the right place, the more we’re positioned to be successful.

Reese: A sound logo isn’t enough these days, but many brands have been wrong-footed by sonic. How do brands overcome this?

Sengara: The requirements that a sonic logo was trying to fulfil were very different thirty years ago. Today, it’s about breaking through and eliciting an emotion, whereas before the jingle was a key part of a brand’s identity. But looking at the medium now, sonic identity needs to be easily identifiable and adaptable in regard to all the different touchpoints that didn’t exist before. Twenty or thirty years ago, the consumer would sit and watch the commercials. Now they have ad blockers and skip the commercials. That’s where the power of finding something uniquely distinctive for your brand can be powerful. We’ve done that with Longbranch bourbon by partnering with Matthew McConaughey. He already has some sonic identity with his “Alright, alright, alright” catchphrase. He brought all of that to us for Longbranch and some of our communications have that identity. In return we’ve seen some consumers making digital gifs and memes of the adverts. I’m excited about us continuing to figure out the best way that our brands can be leveraged to elicit emotion and engagement around our messaging.

Reese: Why are the brands in your category license-driven when it comes to sonic identity? Why isn’t a sonic DNA being created?

Sengara: I won’t deny what you’re observing, but these brands are a part of a lifestyle. If you think about when they’re being consumed that’s a reason you see them aligned in that way. But what you bring up is a great opportunity for some brands to be more proactive about co-creating sonic identities – that would give them a stronger place within the specific areas of culture they want to play within. There hasn’t been as much experimentation with how we go beyond identifying those cultural moments, identifying the right partners, and then collaborating with those partners to consistently bring distinctive brand-owned sonic identity to the forefront. I’m referencing Longbranch again but that’s just one that we’re starting on that journey with. Matthew McConaughey is not just an ambassador for us, he’s the creator of the actual product and he’s also a big impetus for us in terms of identifying what the unique sound of this brand will be.

Reese: Many brands say their product dies on screenless ecosystems because we have gone from visual to audio visual to audio only. What is the solution to this conundrum?

Sengara: It’s about having conversations with people and understanding what you want to do with your brand. I’d say get informed about how this area is currently operating and understand who your consumer is and how their world is evolving. Invest in being prepared. I feel like we can all take that lesson from 2020. Marketers don’t know the future or how the marketplace will continue to evolve, but we can bet on it evolving faster than we anticipate. So, if we can agree that sound is a part of that experience – and we’re already seeing some brands prepare in this space – it would also be smart of us to think about who we could partner with. But it’s not just about sonic. We should also be prepared to look at our brand’s core DNA and figure out how it comes to life from a multi-sensorial perspective.

Note: The interview took place in New York on November 18th, 2020.

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