The trouble with India when it comes to marketing alcohol is that if it is seen as directly promoting consumption, it’s not just bad, it’s downright illegal. By calling this situation troublesome, I leave little doubt as to which side of the fence I stand. I am all for moderation and civility of consumption but the idea that the administrative and legislative powers of the world’s largest democracy have to convene and lock down on what can be easily put down to personal choice is something I find rides against the very tenets of democracy and freedom. Choice can exist if left to the people, not if imposed from above; just like the recent ban on importing Foie Gras. You did know about that, didn’t you?
But where there are to be found stringent laws there are always loopholes. And if there aren’t any, then trust local ingenuity to find innovative ways around the problem. Brands are compelled to find new ways to address this challenge of not simply letting consumers know that they exist but also attempt to build lasting associations and patronage.
Sometimes these attempts are silly, but in other cases they serve to propagate the brand in the most unprecedented and yet successful manner.
The Glenfiddich endeavour which promotes artists is perhaps a great way to approach this objective.
Every year, from a number of submitted entries, they have an eminent jury decide upon one artist who is then sent to the Glenfiddich distillery out of where the artist will be based for the next three months. During this period, all the costs are borne by the company and all that is expected of said artist is to observe, analyse, and create. From sculptors to painters, the idea is to give budding artists a platform where they can find recognition for their talent and consequently, a marketplace for their work. Once the stipulated period is over, the artist is back on home ground where a small select exhibition may mark the event with a display of the works conceived and executed in this period.
At no point in this entire exercise does the brand push itself blatantly. Rather than vying for attention they are more a backdrop to the whole process. But artists do end up representing their stay in one manner or another – you can’t not be influenced by the heady nature of a traditional Scottish distillery – and the brand manages to propagate a precise image of what it sells in the minds of people to whom they wish to sell.
Maybe I make it sound commercial and maybe it really isn’t but one can’t but notice the positive effects of such social endeavours which try and give back instead of just taking.
Yuvan Bothisathuvar was the winner of Glenfiddich’s ‘Emerging Artist of the Year 2013 Award’ and he recently put up a solo exhibition of his works. Barely at ease with English, he was much more at home with materials that he could contort to give shape to his ideas and emotions. In spite of us standing in silence, his works managed to speak to the lot of us. Maybe nursing smooth, silky 15-year-old single malt had something to do with it, but I wouldn’t have put it down for anything then.
At a time when every brand seems to be out there hunting for clients, with claws out and teeth bared, pretentious as it may sound to promote the fine arts, it is indeed a noble approach to adopt by any standards. And when the artist happens to be one from India, it gives us even more reason to raise a toast!
Magandeep Singh is India's first sommelier, food, wine and travel writer and TV show host. His passions include studying languages and choking the saxophone. In his free time he works.
