Bacardi creates ASMR Youtube video using barware as instruments

Rum brand Bacardi is jumping on the ASMR bandwagon by mixing together sounds from cocktail preparation to create a new music video

The spirit label teamed up with producer and rapper Swizz Beatz on the track to “shine a spotlight on local bartending talent.”

Bacardi has also released a music video to accompany the music. The sound of  bottles clinking in a case of Bacardi rum launches the music track as the shot cuts to a bar, with customers dancing to the newly created beat.

There’s also “rhythmically chopped” tropical fruit, well-timed bottles being opened, and cameos from leading bartenders around the world including Lawrence Gregory, senior bartender at London’s Curtain Hotel, and Nicole Fas, one of the global finalists in Bacardi’s Legacy Global Cocktail Competition this year.

The track draws on the popularity of ASMR music, a genre that incorporates relaxing sounds that has garnered an enormous online following in recent years.

Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR), is an experience characterised by a static-like or tingling sensation on the skin that typically begins on the scalp and moves down the back of the neck and upper spine, which is triggered by hearing rustling, tapping or whispering.

ASMR is incredibly popular on Youtube, with videos frequently getting millions of views and their creators gaining huge subscriber numbers.

Fabio Ruffet, Regional Brand Director for Bacardi Europe, said: “Bringing together this group of bartenders highlighted the pure energy and skill that goes into cocktail-making. From the moment the they met on set, the connection between them was instant –there was a palpable electricity as they hit it off and started discussing plans for local bar takeovers in each other’s cities.

“No one drinks rum sitting down – and now even the making of our cocktails has its own uplifting beat.”

Director Tucker Bliss said the team took inspiration from the “ASMR world, focusing on the instantly recognisable and familiar sounds of the bar – honing in on what rum might sound like.

“We had such an amazing time breaking down each mixed drink to its core sonic components, to their most simple form, and then building the vibe back up into a new track.”

To celebrate the launch of the new campaign, each of the bartenders has come up with their own cocktail “embodying the sound of rum”.

Gregory, for example, has created the ‘Flamingo Domingo’, which will go on the menu at the Curtain hotel bar in London.

Meanwhile Julia Rahn, from Germany, has created a salty and zesty cocktail called ‘Match The Beat’, which will be available at Bar Convent Berlin in October, as well as at her new bar ‘Contemporary’ later this year

The video will run on Bacardi’s social channels across Europe from 12 September.