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An Archives with a Twist: Mixing it up at Bacardi, Ltd.
Bacardi was established in Santiago de Cuba in 1862 by Don Facundo Bacardi Massó. After close to a century of operation in Cuba, on October 14th 1960, the company's Cuban assets including its archives were confiscated by the country's totalitarian regime. After its exodus from Cuba, Bacardi operated as five separate companies bound only by licensing and trading agreements. This led to the creation of five separate holdings for Bacardi archival materials.
In 1995 the World of Bacardi Museum opened at the headquarters for Bacardi U.S.A., Inc. in Miami, Florida. This began what can only be described as a renaissance and rediscovery of the Company's Cuban culture.
Two years later the BACARDI Archive was established. Material was centralized from the different Bacardi companies and it began to proactively rebuild the intellectual property it had lost in Cuba. The importance of its heritage prompted the Company to invest in a $7 million dollar visitor center in Puerto Rico for the BACARDI brand. After four years in operation the Casa BACARDI Visitor Centre welcomes more than 210,000 visitors per year.
Today the BACARDI Archive collection is made up of a significant amount of original promotional material, Bacardí family photographs, documents dating as far back as the 1850s, vintage film and a multitude of artifacts. In addition to the BACARDI brand, due to industry consolidation, Bacardi Limited based in Bermuda has purchased companies such as Martini & Rossi S.p.A., established in 1863, and brands such as DEWAR'S Scotch whisky, established in 1844.
In total, the Company's archival holdings include one palace, one United Nations- designated world heritage site, two museums, seven visitor experiences, fine artwork and countless corporate and national patrimony documents dating back three millenniums.
The archives report both locally and to Bacardi Global Brands, the marketing arm of Bacardi Limited. There are currently only two full hires including a Global Director and Global Manager and three consultants working to help catalog a large amount of material.
In addition to preserving, organizing and collecting material and information, the archive's main purpose is to supply still and moving imagery and information to the marketing department in the effort to reduce advertising and publicity costs, to establish brand provenance and heritage and to account for the collection. Plans are currently underway to revamp the existing intranet and launch a new archive digital storage and asset management system.
Physical collections are used both internally and externally. The company has close to a dozen visitor centers where heritage displays are available to the general public. They include the Casa BACARDI Visitor Centre in Puerto Rico, DEWAR'S World of Whisky in Aberfeldy, Scotland, the Palais and Musée BÉNÉDICTINE in Fécamp, France and the MARTINI Museum of Oenology in Pessione, Italy.
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Note: Repository Profilies are provided by the organization. The Business Archives Section will update as notified by the organization. Accordingly, information may not be accurate. Individuals should contact the organization before using or citing information.
