₹3,442 cr later, Imperial Blue bets on a 20-year-old idea

The whisky brand Imperial Blue has changed owners, but its most recognisable asset has not. Under Tilaknagar Industries, the roughly two-decade-old "Men Will Be Men" platform is back with a new lift film and a deliberately digital-first plan.

A new owner, an old campaign

Pernod Ricard sold Imperial Blue to Tilaknagar Industries in a deal worth ₹3,442 crore, completed on November 30, 2023. Tilaknagar says the brand had lost marketing momentum under its previous owner, and restoring visibility is now the priority.

"Our first priority after taking over the brand was to bring the focus back to it," says Ahmed Rahimtoola, chief marketing officer at Tilaknagar Industries.

The deal also rebalances Tilaknagar’s portfolio. A company that was historically close to 90% dependent on brandy now has that figure down to roughly 30%, giving it a sizeable presence in India’s larger whisky segment and a more national footprint.

Continuity as strategy, not nostalgia

This is a live case in distinctive brand assets. The slogan, the humour-based "menisms" and the gazelle sonic cue have accumulated memory over two decades. Tilaknagar is keeping them and changing the execution around them.

"’Men Will Be Men’ is so deeply ingrained in the brand that we don’t need to fix something that isn’t broken," Rahimtoola says.

The brand is aimed at value-conscious working consumers between 25 and 50, especially younger buyers in Tier 1, Tier 2 and mini-metro markets who want stature without stretching their pockets. In a category full of success, progress and camaraderie stories, humour is the distinctive recruitment tool.

Marketers often overestimate the need to reinvent after a change of ownership. Distinctive assets reduce the cost of recognition and make media spend work harder. A new owner is buying those memories along with the brand rights, but continuity still requires refreshment: relevance comes from current casting and media behaviour, not from repeating old films.

The gender-comedy tightrope

The new film places two men and a woman in a lift, with the woman actively shaping the joke rather than watching it. Director Roopali Singh, working with 82.5 Grey, says the writing made the female character essential.

"A woman is not just a prop. She plays a very important role in how the humour lands," Singh says.

That matters in a digital environment where humour around gender gets dissected. Tilaknagar says the film has drawn no negative feedback so far, though it has not shared audience data.

What actually changes

The media plan is the bigger shift. Earlier campaigns were television-first; the revival is digital-led, with money moving toward social platforms, Meta and OTT. The company has not disclosed the exact media-spend split. Alongside the film, it has launched "Menisms," a digital content series with four stand-up comedians unpacking male behaviour.

Here is how the return is being handled:

• Asset: Keep the slogan and the gazelle sonic cue.
• Execution: Women participate in the joke, not as targets.
• Media: Digital and OTT lead; comedians extend the idea.

The lesson for marketers is blunt: before you reposition a legacy brand, audit which memory cues are still doing the work. If the cue is strong, update the cast, the story and the media plan—not the asset itself.

Source: Afaqs!