Goodies Narayanan Joins Bacardi India as CMO, Marking a New Era of Culture-Led c

Goodies Narayanan has been appointed Director of Marketing and CMO India at Bacardi, where she will lead consumer and customer marketing across its premium portfolio. After roles at Hotstar, Coursera, P&G and GSK, she returns to brand-building with a focus on culture, creativity, diversity, and data-driven marketing innovation in the alco-bev sector.  

Goodies Narayanan’s announcement of her move to Bacardi India as Director of Marketing and CMO India marks a defining moment not only in her own career but also in the broader landscape of India’s alco-bev industry. For a sector long characterised by traditional leadership structures and conservative marketing frameworks, her appointment signals a new era—one where global brand thinking, digital maturity, culture-shaping creativity and modern leadership converge. Bacardi’s decision to bring her on board reflects the company’s growing ambition to cultivate lifestyle-led brand experiences that resonate with India’s rapidly evolving consumer base, while strengthening its position in an increasingly competitive market.

Narayanan steps into the role after a dynamic journey across consumer technology, streaming platforms, education tech, and FMCG—domains that have each shaped her marketing philosophy. Her most recent positions at Disney+ Hotstar and Coursera offered her the opportunity to lead large-scale digital growth programmes in two of the fastest-expanding sectors of the past decade. At Hotstar, she was at the forefront of a transformative phase for India’s streaming ecosystem, where content consumption exploded, regional markets unlocked new opportunity, and performance-driven marketing became as critical as brand storytelling. At Coursera, as APAC CMO, she navigated the changing demands of digital education, helping scale user acquisition, performance funnels and data-led marketing across diverse markets.

Her earlier foundational years at P&G and GSK equipped her with classical brand-building expertise—rooted in consumer insight, rigorous planning, and long-term equity creation—while also sharpening her ability to operate at the intersection of market strategy and creative execution. This blend of traditional FMCG discipline and contemporary digital agility is part of what makes her return to brand-building, as she describes, both purposeful and timely.

For Bacardi, Narayanan’s appointment arrives at a moment when the company is strengthening its India playbook. The country has become one of the world’s most promising spirits markets, shaped by a young population, rising disposable incomes, premiumisation trends, and growing demand for experiential drinking cultures. Bacardi’s portfolio—spanning Bacardi rum, Patrón tequila, Dewar’s scotch, Grey Goose vodka, Bombay Sapphire gin, and other premium spirits—sits at the heart of this shift, particularly in urban markets where lifestyle, identity and social experiences influence beverage choices as much as product quality.

Her role will focus on leading consumer and customer marketing for this entire portfolio, a mandate that involves shaping how each brand speaks to its audience, how they build long-term cultural connections, and how innovation keeps pace with emerging drinking occasions. The alco-bev category in India demands that marketers navigate unique regulatory challenges around communication and promotion. For a leader who has spent years mastering consumer funnels, digital storytelling and data-led insights, this is both a challenge and an opportunity. The industry’s constraints often fuel creative experimentation across content, experiences, influencers, on-ground activations and branded properties. With Bacardi recognised globally for music-led culture platforms, festival associations and lifestyle-led narratives, Narayanan’s experience across entertainment and consumer-tech gives her a natural advantage.

In her announcement, she highlights the cultural legacy of the brands she will now steward and her excitement to build “disruptive lifestyle brands.” This ambition aligns with Bacardi India’s broader shift towards elevating the role of marketing in shaping culture rather than merely chasing category visibility. From Dewar’s premium whisky positioning to Grey Goose’s luxury lifestyle aesthetic to Bacardi’s deep connection with music and youth culture, the company’s brands are increasingly competing in a space where emotional relevance matters as much as product attributes.

Narayanan’s return to a domain rooted in long-term brand equity suggests a desire to work on narratives that outlast campaign cycles. In the consumer-tech world, speed and scale dominate; in alco-bev, brand heritage, lifestyle association and cultural relevance are key. Her ability to combine the two—bringing data-led, modern marketing thinking to legacy-rich brands—could prove to be a defining asset for Bacardi’s India growth agenda.

Another important aspect of her statement is her acknowledgement of leadership diversity within the alco-bev industry. Historically, senior roles in this sector have been occupied primarily by men, mirroring global patterns across both FMCG and beverage alcohol. Her emphasis that she steps into this position “not as a woman in alco-bev, but as a leader in a space that’s evolving in bold and important ways” reflects how representation is beginning to shift. She frames her appointment not as an exception, but as part of a larger transformation where diverse leadership is becoming integral to the way modern brands operate.

This mindset positions her as not just a marketer but a change agent—one who understands the power of team culture, inclusivity, and creative confidence in building high-performing organisations. Her emphasis on fostering “creative and fearless teams” hints at a leadership philosophy shaped by years of working in dynamic, high-pressure digital environments where experimentation is essential and innovation cycles move quickly. Bringing that energy into Bacardi’s India operations could reshape how the company’s marketing teams approach creativity, measurement, collaboration and cultural engagement.

The Indian spirits market is at an inflection point. Premium spirits are gaining traction. Craft experiences are growing. Millennial and Gen Z consumers seek brands that reflect identity and aspiration. Digital discovery and social-led influence are stronger than ever. In this environment, marketing is not merely a function—it is a strategic growth driver. Narayanan’s track record suggests she will approach this role with a lens that blends performance rigor with brand magic, recognising that modern consumers expect brands to stand for something meaningful beyond the bottle.

Bacardi’s long-standing association with music, nightlife, festivals and youth culture offers fertile ground for innovation. The company has historically invested in large-scale experiential properties—from immersive parties to music collaborations—that allow it to engage directly with consumers in ways that transcend conventional advertising. With her experience in entertainment, content ecosystems and platform partnerships, Narayanan is well-positioned to elevate these formats, making them more digitally integrated, insight-driven and culturally expansive.

Her journey also signals a broader trend of senior leaders from tech and streaming platforms transitioning into consumer categories seeking digital maturity. As alco-bev brands increasingly lean on digital-first approaches, sophisticated CRM, community-building and nuanced consumer journeys, leaders like Narayanan bring critical expertise in understanding audiences not just as demographics but as behavioural segments. This understanding will be central as Bacardi builds more personalised, culturally connected and data-powered brand experiences.

Ultimately, her appointment reflects Bacardi India’s evolving strategy: one grounded in heritage but oriented towards modernity, one that respects the brand legacy but embraces the possibilities of new formats, new audiences and new leadership perspectives. Goodies Narayanan arrives at a moment when the company is ready for reinvention, and her career trajectory suggests she thrives in settings where ambition, creativity and transformation intersect.

As she steps into the role, her focus on creating “work that lives beyond meeting rooms” sets the tone for what may become a new chapter in Bacardi’s marketing narrative—bold, culturally rooted, digitally fluent and deeply consumer-centred. Her leadership begins at a time when the alco-bev category is rewriting its playbook, and she appears ready to shape not only the next phase of Bacardi’s India journey but also the future of lifestyle-led brand building in one of the world’s most exciting markets.