Taking Bacardi to festivals, fairways, and the Kentucky Derby

The situation

Bacardi shows up where culture happens — Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, the Kentucky Derby, the Rose Bowl. But a spirits brand can't just show up: every activation carries the compliance weight of alcohol marketing, the production complexity of a festival footprint, and the expectation that the brand experience matches the caliber of the event around it. Bacardi needed a partner who could take a program from concept to pour without dropping anything in between.

What I did

I ran Bacardi's experiential and sponsorship programs end to end — from concept development with the Bacardi team through live production on site. That meant managing event budgets up to $2M, directing field marketing and production teams, and acting as the single point of contact between the brand and the properties themselves: festival operators, sports properties, and event producers with their own rules, timelines, and politics. These activations doubled as launch platforms — I brought new Bacardi products to market inside them, putting first pours in consumers' hands at moments of peak cultural attention. And I built VIP hospitality programs that turned fans into insiders — elevated experiences at the Derby, the Rose Bowl, and the festivals that made the brand part of the best day of someone's year.

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The results

[FILL IN — strongest options in order: 1. Scale numbers: activations or events per season, total guests through hospitality, samples/serves delivered 2. Program growth: renewed or expanded across seasons, added properties year over year 3. A named property or moment: "official activation partner at X for N consecutive years". This page will carry the site's richest photo and video library, so even modest numbers work — the media is the proof here.]