Intro (00:00):

Welcome to The Taylor Ten. A fast-paced, 10 minute deep dive into the minds of those shaking up the marketing world, bringing you the sharpest insights, boldest ideas and breakthrough trends driving the industry forward. So tune in, get inspired, and stay ahead.

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Kait (00:17):

Hey everyone, this is Kait Stack. I'm with our guest, my client friend, Michelle Gattenio. She is the brands and culture lead for the rum portfolio at Diageo, which includes Zacapa and our very own Captain Morgan. Michelle, thanks so much for chatting with me today.

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Michelle (00:38):

Thanks so much for having me. Excited to dive in.

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Kait (00:40):

Of course, of course. We've been chatting a lot about brand integrations lately, both on our brands, but even just exploring other brands that we're taking notes from, and I wanted to talk to you a little bit today about how we make those integrations authentic, what kind of goes behind crafting them with said TV shows or movies or other pop culture phenomenons and just kind of really get into the gritty of the behind the scenes. 

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(01:13)

I just want to know from your experience at Diageo, how do you decide whether a show or a creator or even a storyline is the right fit for your brand? Obviously, there's high visibility placements and we can go down that path, but you've done some interesting ones. I'm thinking about Somebody Feed Phil where I'm just really curious, how do you get to know that, that is the right fit for your brand?

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Michelle (01:42):

Yeah, it's a great question and I first and foremost have to give all the credit in the world to Lindsay Wallner, who sits on our brands and culture team and oversees all of our entertainment integrations and partnerships. I think she is our first line of defense, if you will, on finding these incredible opportunities and building the relationships within the different studios and talent teams and whatever it is, so that we are getting access to some of these really incredible opportunities as the next film or TV hits are being produced, thought of, scripted, whatever point in the process it is, that Diageo brands are being considered as a part of the conversation. So I think point 1 is we have a little bit of a secret weapon on the Diageo side in Lindsay, but once it comes to the brands, I think it's a little bit of a mix of art and science.

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(02:37):

We can look at the audience demos of the show and some of the more qualitative numbers behind who's viewing it, how big is the opportunity. But, I also think it needs to be balanced with some of the, I will say, informed gut calls of how does this feel within the overall plot of the show? Is it feeling disruptive or is it feeling additive and authentic? Is this something that feels like it really could be in this world? Is our brand adding value or is it taking someone as a viewer out of the experience because it's just so jarring.

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Kait (03:16):

Once you get to the point of identifying the opportunity and moving forward. I'm really curious what it looks like more behind the scenes, and we've worked on a few of these together, but when working with producers or talent, on average, how much input is the brand giving into, say, a TV episode? And how do you balance those brand objectives with letting the story unfold organically and letting some magic happen?

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Michelle (03:49):

It all depends on the brand in the show. Some shows will inevitably give you a little bit more leeway in dictating how your brand shows up, but the common thread in my experience throughout all the different kinds of whether it's scripted or unscripted placements we've seen on my brands, it's having a – and I will say short list of non-negotiables. What are the true absolutely cannot shift or pivot away from things that the brand has to be represent, the bottle has to be in the shot or the cocktail has to be this one or some of those more central pillars of the brand, and where are the places that I will say the name of the game is flexibility. Where can we give people a little bit more creative freedom to take our marketing speak and put it in very plain English for viewers to process and understand in a way that is authentic to how the show is telling a story? Not every integration is going to be an opportunity to give your top 10 key brand differentiator points in the most perfect way possible, and I think that, that is okay, and it's about more putting your brand in situational places that bring that to life on screen without having to spew marketing jargon behind it.

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Kait (05:17):

If you could talk a little bit just about the integration with Zacapa on Somebody Feed Phil. I keep on coming back to that because it was so fun and Phil has such a personality. But, I loved how that episode was really talking about Zacapa's roots and a little bit of the history and how did you guys go about having those conversations without that feeling overly forced or like you were giving the audience a history lesson? I mean, we were really finding a really nice balance there, in my opinion.

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Michelle (05:48):

One, again, I will give all the credit in the world to Lindsay for having fostered this amazing relationship with Phil and the production team behind the show. I think she has gained their trust and they have built a mutual trust in how our products are integrated into the overall city tours that he does. They have been doing this for, I think it's eight seasons, seven or eight. We've been at this for a while across the portfolio, and I think it's, again, finding the points in the brand experience for Zacapa. It was making sure we were harnessing the beauty of Guatemala and where the rum is made and produced and is such an integral part of the brand story and showing that was so much more powerful than having to say it. Pairing that with the amazing personality of our master blender, Lorena, who brings her own amazing spice to the experience. It's not a drab and dull tasting experience where you go from barrel to barrel. She has such a palpable and energetic personality that I think that alone on camera just brought the brand to life in a way that we couldn't have possibly scripted. She was swirling liquid in a glass singing Despacito. That was not anything anyone had told her to do. That was just something that she felt in the moment that felt right, and it was so good that it made it into the scene.

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Kait (07:20):

When we get to the finished product. I'm curious, beyond impressions, media value. I mean, obviously we're all looking at those hard numbers, but what signals do you look for or does Diageo look for that really shows that that integration resonated with audiences

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Michelle (07:44):

For me in 2025 and the Memeable culture that we live in, I think a big part of it is are we seeing those sound bites or gifs or memes being generated as highlights? I think, we've seen it less so on a show, maybe like Somebody Feed Phil, but we saw it come to life with the verbal Captain Morgan mentions in shows like Sirens or The Pit, right? They were organically pulled out by viewers and used as mini highlight reels in their own right, and so that to me, it's like, yes, the numbers tell one part of the story, but that, I hate to use the buzzy word virality, but the authentic claiming of the pieces and parts of the show by the viewers themselves, and once they take on their own life on a social media platform or somewhere else, that to me feels like the sign of, oh, it really stuck and this is actually working.

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Kait (08:48):

What do you think the next evolution of authentic brand integrations looks like?

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Michelle (08:55):

Bozeman St. John had a funny quote that I think encapsulated it incredibly. Where she said, brands are not just competing with other brands within a social feed. They're competing with baby cats and goats doing cartwheels or some crazy shit like that, that we're competing with friends, family, viral cat videos, memes, and other brands, and it's more how are we giving value to the consumer, whether it's quite literally handing you something in person of value or giving you a snackable piece of content that made you smile in the middle of the day and it's just looking at the full pipeline of brand experience holistically.

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Kait (09:37):

Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. It's always fun talking about the ins and outs of what we're doing every day. Sometimes we don't get a moment to step back and reflect on it, so thank you.

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Michelle (09:49):

Oh my gosh. Thank you for having me.

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Kait (09:51):

Of course.

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