How Pernod Ricard's flagship AI tools are scripting the French spirits major's India success story

In a fiercely competitive Indian alco-bev market, Pernod Ricard is leaning hard on its early bets in Artificial Intelligence (AI)—and it’s already paying off. From doubling sales conversion rates to reallocating a third of its marketing budget based on data-driven insights, the French spirits major is seeing tangible returns from a five-year AI transformation that’s now fully embedded across its India operations.

“AI and Generative AI (Gen AI) are some of the tools that we use to keep creating that amazing mix and to keep making us win in India. We are ahead of the curve,” chief transformation officer Simon de Beauregard tells Fortune India. 

From consumer insights to sales execution, the company is leveraging AI across every link in its value chain; thus, moving away from a role-based structure to a skill-based organisation powered by intelligent tools. With India rising to the company's second-largest market by revenue, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

“India for Pernod Ricard is a must-win, it’s a very strategic market. It’s a growth engine; we've seen high growth for years. We see that will continue with all the trends and tailwinds in India,” he adds.

The group’s flagship AI tools—Maestria, Matrix, and D-Star—have become critical enablers of its success. Maestria gathers deep market intelligence through one-on-one interactions with over 18,000 consumers, while social listening tools like Radarly monitor digital chatter to detect flavor trends and changing preferences.

To stay consumer-centric, the alcohol major is leveraging in-house AI tools to deliver personalised, data-driven consumer engagement.

Matrix, developed specifically for the Indian market, informs promotional strategies by linking marketing spends to sales ROI. “Based on (the data), we've been able to reallocate up to a third of our marketing spends, which is massive, either across the brands or across the touchpoints,” says Beauregard.

The result of these flagship programmes has been a significant 50% improvement in marketing KPIs such as view-through rates and click-through rates, especially for hyper-personalised campaigns like ‘One Billion Films for One Billion Fans’ and ‘the Imperial Blue Superhit Nights tour with Harrdy Sandhu’.

“That's why it was successful. If you think about marketing KPIs, you will see an increase in any KPI, including view-through rate by 50%. In terms of pure media, consumer engagement, and consumer delight, [there’s been a] 50% increase in any engagement rate,” Simon adds.

But the real game-changer lies in D-Star, the company’s frontline sales AI platform. By aggregating on-ground data—store formats, SKUs, flavor preferences, and more—D-Star provides intelligent recommendations to sales reps, helping them target the right products at the right outlets. In West Bengal, this led to Pernod Ricard securing listings in half of 300 newly identified outlets for Ballantine's scotch whisky. The model is now being scaled nationwide and even replicated globally.

While tech is transforming the backend, Pernod Ricard is also rewriting the rules of the premium spirits game in India. The company, which manufactures over 97% of its Indian portfolio domestically, has seen a clear pattern: the higher the price segment, the faster the growth.

“Premiumisation is a long-term trend, and it’s accelerating,” says Beauregard. Indian single malt Longitude 77, launched two years ago, is now priced on par with 12-year-old imported labels, a bold signal of confidence in the domestic market’s upward taste curve.

In fact, the line between local and global, mass and premium, is increasingly blurring—not just in pricing, but in performance. With over 24 bottling sites and a state-of-the-art distillery and winery in Nashik, Pernod Ricard has built a vertically integrated India operation that serves the domestic market but also exports to several countries. The company announced a ₹100 crore investment in another Maharashtra facility last year.

For Pernod Ricard, AI is not just a buzzword—it is becoming a part of the very thread of the organisation’s working. The company is reimagining how liquor brands can scale smartly, sell precisely, and speak personally to the Indian consumer.

As Beauregard puts it, “The tools matter the most when they get us return on investment—whether that’s revenue, market share, or employee satisfaction. That’s where AI is delivering.”