Digital preservation specialist Preservica has been selected by Bacardi, the world's largest privately held spirits company, to help safeguard the company legacy of more than 150 years and ensure it is available for future generations.

Bacardi Limited produces and markets internationally recognised spirits and wines. The Bacardi brand portfolio comprises more than 200 brands and labels, including Bacardi rum of course, but also Grey Goose vodka, Dewar's whisky, Bombay Sapphire gin, Martini and many other leading and emerging brands. Founded more than 158 years ago in Santiago de Cuba, family-owned Bacardi Limited currently employs more than 7,000, operates production facilities in 11 countries, and sells its brands in more than 170 countries.

Bacardi is to use the Preservica platform to preserve digital assets and corporate records, including advertising campaigns, major business strategies as well as digitised historical collections. The digital preservation initiative aligns with Bacardi efforts to continuously modernise ways of working and leverage technology while protecting its heritage.

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"A growing inventory of digital materials from the past 20 years prompted Bacardi to find a preservation platform to future-proof and protect unique digital assets. Also of importance was to find an online tool that allowed secure access for teams across the company to easily and safely contribute critical records. The benefit of a move to digital was even more prevalent during lockdowns caused by COVID-19. As Bacardi offices, including the four archives sites across the globe, closed their doors for safety reasons, the Bacardi Archives team relied on digital access to keep up with requests for stories, images and other content used regularly by brand and business teams."

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COVID-19 CHALLENGES
A growing inventory of digital materials from the past 20 years prompted Bacardi to find a preservation platform to future-proof and protect unique digital assets. Also of importance was to find an online tool that allowed secure access for teams across the company to easily and safely contribute critical records.

The benefit of a move to digital was even more prevalent during lockdowns caused by COVID-19. As Bacardi offices, including the four archives sites across the globe, closed their doors for safety reasons, the Bacardi Archives team relied on digital access to keep up with requests for stories, images and other content used regularly by brand and business teams.

As a family-owned company for seven generations, Bacardi takes great pride in protecting its unique stories and moments in time that have propelled, and tested, the company's ability to persevere and succeed. Moments like 2020, a year filled with unexpected change, where Bacardi quickly adapted to protect its people and its business. The company's response to COVID-19, including support for the community, how it adapted workplaces for a new better, and pivots of business strategies such as moves to e-commerce and virtual formats, will be documented in the new Preservica platform.

Similar to Prohibition, its role in cocktail culture, and even forced exile from the original homeland of Bacardi, 2020 will be a moment in time that future generations will research and be inspired by. "Heritage is at the heart of our company culture, our brands, and our products at Bacardi. Every item in our collections tells a unique story and brings to life the heritage of a brand, the spirits industry, and even cultural moments in time," says Jacqui Seargeant, Global Heritage Manager at Bacardi. "With Preservica, we are digitally transforming the way we preserve stories, in real time, to inspire future generations and to protect the legacy of our brands and company."

The agreement with Preservica will extend across all company archives; more than 60,000 physical items are preserved across the combined archives with new items, in particular digital ones, added every year.

Unlike simply storing assets in the cloud or using a traditional DAM system, Preservica's active preservation platform ensures digital content is securely stored and automatically transformed into formats that can be read and used without needing the original application.

Preservica is changing the way organisations around the world protect and future-proof critical long-term digital information. Available in the cloud (SaaS) or on premise, the award-winning software has been designed from the ground-up to tackle the unique challenges of ensuring that digital information remains accessible and trustworthy over decades.

Mike Quinn, CEO of Preservica added, "We're delighted to welcome Bacardi to the Preservica family as we work to safeguard its rich and diverse brand heritage and corporate records. They join a growing number of major global corporations using Preservica to leverage their unique heritage, brand and business asset for strategic advantage."

More info: www.preservica.com