Step Into The Blue World Of Bombay Sapphire's Natasha Curtin

Like many a kid, Bombay Sapphire’s global vice president Natasha Curtin, toyed with the idea of becoming a doctor or lawyer after binge-watching ER and US legal dramas. But in the end, it was psychology and design that captivated her interest most, leading to the excitement of the marketing boardroom.

“I was fascinated by icons and why people make choices,” Curtin explains. “Even from a young age, I wondered why my mum chose one brand over another, and I was curious about the Rolling Stones logo on my dad’s records.”

Curtin studied international business and French at the University of Manchester before joining the Barclays graduate scheme. She later held roles at Lavazza and L’Oréal, eventually joining Bacardi as a marketing manager for Grey Goose, before taking the helm of sister brand Bombay Sapphire’s marketing in 2018. She has also had stints at both Innocent Drinks and Benefit Cosmetics in a wide-ranging career.

The blue-bottled gin has developed an iconic status. While the category has softened after years of rapid growth, Bombay Sapphire remains the top-trending gin according to the Drinks International Cocktail Report and is the second bestselling gin in bars - only behind Diageo-owned Tanqueray.

“If there’s one thing my experience has taught me, it’s that marketing is about telling and crafting stories that connect with customers in a meaningful way,” Curtin says.

Her latest campaign, 'Step Into The Blue,' perfectly captures this ethos. The new initiative highlights the iconic sea-blue colour of Bombay Sapphire bottles and ties into the brand’s new partnership with electric boat racing championship E1, where the beverage’s spirit of creativity and fun takes centre-stage at iconic locations such as Dubrovnik, Croatia and Lake Maggiore, Italy.

Curtin explains that ‘Step Into The Blue’ acts as a global platform encapsulating sustainability, entertainment and innovation “It’s this invitation to pause, to engage and fully immerse ourselves in the beauty of life,” she adds.

The campaign builds on previous work such as its partnership with artist Rebecca Black at the Miami Beach Edition’s rooftop showcasing the Bombay Sapphire Lemon Cocktail earlier this year.

While it is still early days, Curtin explains that she has set KPIs based around how the campaign connects with consumers. The team plans to gather feedback from bartenders, bar owners, agency partners and others involved with a focus on understanding customer engagement.

“The biggest thing for me is about understanding and sitting with consumers, seeing how it shows on social and understanding the impact,” she continues.

Bombay Sapphire has just named Mother as its global creative agency, while the Bacardi-owned brand also works with Ogilvy PR.

Speaking to Creative Salon, she shares her insights about brand-building and how her career has fuelled her desire to engage with customers.

What do you love most about being a marketer?

I love the challenge of working out how a brand can connect globally with different consumers, different culture, and different life stages. I think understanding quickly what your brand’s DNA is and what stays constant, and what needs to adapt to connect locally. I find that fascinating.

At Bacardi, I've worked on Bombay Sapphire and Grey Goose, and what we've got there are incredible brands that are built on huge heritage in history. And, I think if you're fortunate enough to work on one, it's about how you can carry them on and leave them in a better place.

Because Bacardi is a family-owned company it has meant we've always been allowed to act like owners and entrepreneurs. The company approach, combined with the brands that you get to touch and work on, has been exemplary and super exciting. It has always really been, for me in marketing, about telling and crafting stories that reflect what your brand wants to do and how they can connect with consumers in a meaningful way.

Can you talk about the most important thing that marketers working in the alcohol space should be aware of, in your view?

For any brand, you've got to activate in a way that is authentic to your brand, to your DNA with something that reflects what you do. I mean, consumers and brands need to show up responsibly, and that's a really important point within the alcohol space - how we target and speak to consumers in a way that reflects the regulations and is mindful and respectful of that.

And then, how we do activate has to be genuine. It has to bring value. It has to bring excitement, or else it will be lost. This is a super busy world of doom-scrolling and not enough hours in the day. It's so easy to do things that will just become white noise. We owe it as marketers to ourselves, to the brands, and to the consumers, to do something that is genuinely authentic and reflective about us. Also, quite rightly, consumers can see a mile off when it's not genuine.

What is your favourite piece of creativity ? (that you haven’t worked on) 

I really liked the e.l.f beauty campaign which highlighted that there are more men called Richard on corporate boards than women.

I also really like Sweaty Betty’s campaign around just wearing the shorts. I think that’s a great empowerment piece.

I’m also really enjoying a lot of the Belmond Hotel ads that are about inviting people into the world.

I like the longer formats that they're using that show a real confidence in media, but also a real understanding. It taps into people's wish and urge to stop and immerse themselves in and enjoy life. That's really elegant work, really beautiful.

What excites you most about the future?

Brands have got a real responsibility to build platforms that inspire and empower others. I’m really excited to see how we can continue to do that in years to come.

I think our E1 partnership is a really nice example of us trying to build partners that give us physical, immersive examples. What excites me is how the digital, physical world is blending, powered by AI, and how marketers can use that science and art to move things forward in a way that feels respectful and meaningful to consumers.

It's built on genuine needs and experiences where bars can use technology to advance that piece. I do see it as an exciting event for boating, where that art and science will move us forward. There are endless possibilities, and marketers are becoming more responsible. We all need to be more demanding of the work we create, because media will be more fragmented. It's a real opportunity for us to make work that matters.

What do you think makes a good agency partner?

When we say "partner", I really mean "partners" as someone who can be part of our team. We love strategic thinkers, and I love people who can push us creatively, and people who are passionate advocates for the brand. So there's the baseline. They have to understand your vision, and they need to understand the culture and where you are. I've always found that the magic can happen when you've got people who have the brand's best intentions at heart, but want to make great work, and I find that happens through challenging assumptions, bringing new perspectives to the table, and being part of the team. That's where the magic happens and I think you want people who've got to share joy in the work. People who want to work on brands, and particularly when crafting the detail, which is a huge part of it. So you want people who are as obsessive about the detail and the execution of it as much as you are. We've been so fortunate to build a brilliant team, and we couldn't have done it without our brilliant partners.

What creative play are you most proud of in your career?

When I was at Grey Goose we did a lot of work with the Elton John AIDS foundation. I love the fact that we were able to do something that really did good. The amounts of funds that we raised from that felt very personally satisfying but it was a great way that we were able to connect with communities in a way that was meaningful from a financial stand-point.

At Bombay Sapphire I really loved the work where we turned the Design Museum into a supermarket. It was rewarding creatively but it also gave a real platform and uplift to consumers, the artists and the art institution. And with Step Into The Blue, it’s really exciting to see where that can take us.

What has been your biggest career lesson?

I think the learning comes when things go wrong and you take them as a lesson. As your learning more in your career, times when things go wrong can feel like the end of the world but I probably think that’s where I’ve done my best learning. So, the learning is to see those opportunities as a lesson and not beat yourself up about them.

You meet so many people in marketing so it’s important to make sure you keep your network, the people who introduce you, who you get brand connections with. I think it’s important to make sure you’re fully immersed and not just from a brand point of view but also how you conduct yourself in marketing

And authenticity is about being true to your brand and your story, and that honesty resonates with people. If you’re trying to be something you’re not, it won’t land. Consumers sniff out anything that feels contrived or inauthentic immediately.