In an exclusive conversation with Martechai.com, Prerna Sangal — Head of Marketing at Simba Beer — shares how the brand is turning marketing restrictions into creative advantages. From decoding cultural signals and leveraging AI for community-first storytelling to building permission-led first-party data, Sangal outlines a new-age Martech playbook tailored to India’s evolving alcobev landscape. She also reveals how Simba is personalizing experiences across cities, using social intelligence to find the next underground scene, and why technology should serve creativity—not replace it.

Brij Pahwa (BP): How is Simba Beer using data and AI to understand and engage the new-age alcohol consumer—especially in a market with advertising restrictions?

Prerna Sangal (PS): The new-age consumer doesn’t just want a product and in our case a beer; they want a story, a community, an experience. We’re using data to decode these deeper motivations rather than just tracking traditional metrics. Our approach focuses on understanding cultural signals and behavioral patterns that reveal what drives authentic connection. Further Data helps us create better marketing funnels and strategies. Helps us understand how to better engage with consumers.

We also analyze social conversations, cultural trends, and community feedback to identify where our audience is genuinely engaged. This helps us show up authentically in spaces where craft beer enthusiasts naturally gather – whether that’s supporting underground hip-hop scenes or collaborating with artists who embody our rebellious spirit. Historically with Simba beer, we’ve been able to track and bank on possible trends ahead of time. 

The restriction becomes our advantage. It forces us to be more creative, more genuine, and more deeply connected to the communities we serve. We’re not broadcasting; we’re participating in conversations that already matter to our people.

(BP): With traditional media channels limited for alcobev brands, what MarTech stack do you rely on to drive awareness, influence, and loyalty?

(PS): We’ve built our ecosystem around community-first platforms rather than traditional advertising channels. Our stack prioritizes direct community engagement tools and creator collaboration platforms that allow us to connect authentically with our audience.

Social listening tools help us identify cultural moments and conversations where Simba can contribute meaningfully. We focus heavily on content management systems that support our storytelling approach – like our “First Time with Simba” series, which puts real people and genuine experiences at the center.

The key is building technology that supports relationships, not just transactions. We invest in tools that help us understand our community’s creative passions, cultural interests, and moments of genuine connection. This approach has helped us build not just a customer base, but a movement of people who see Simba as part of their creative journey.

(BP): In what ways are you using AI to create or optimize digital content—be it influencer campaigns, ad creatives, or community-driven storytelling?

(PS): We’re using intelligent tools to enhance our storytelling, not replace it. Our “First Time with Simba” series is a perfect example – while technology helps us identify compelling stories and optimize content performance, the heart of every episode remains authentically human and unscripted.

For creator collaborations, we use data to identify artists and communities whose values align naturally with ours. This isn’t about finding the biggest numbers; it’s about finding the right cultural connections. Our partnerships with artists like Hanumankind and Seedhe Maut happened because we recognized authentic alignment, not just audience metrics.

We’re also leveraging softwares such as MidJourney, Sora and the likes for our digital campaigns too, while staying authentic.

The magic happens when technology amplifies genuine human creativity rather than replacing it. We use these tools to make our content more discoverable and engaging, but every story we tell starts with real human experiences and authentic cultural connections.

(BP): How are you navigating the rise of direct-to-consumer (D2C) channels in the alco-bev industry using technology and data-driven decision-making?

(PS): D2C in our industry is really about direct community connection rather than just direct sales. We’re building technology that helps us understand and serve our community more personally, even when we’re reaching them through traditional retail channels.

Our data strategy focuses on creating touchpoints that feel personal and meaningful. Whether someone discovers us at a premium venue or through our cultural initiatives like Uproar, we’re tracking engagement patterns that help us understand what resonates most deeply.

The goal isn’t just to sell more beer; it’s to create more meaningful connections. Technology helps us identify which experiences and stories create the strongest community bonds, allowing us to invest in relationships that drive both loyalty and authentic word-of-mouth growth.

(BP):  What kind of first-party data strategies are you building at Simba, especially with cookie deprecation and increased privacy regulations on the horizon?

(PS): We’re building our data strategy around voluntary community participation rather than tracking behavior. Our approach focuses on creating experiences that people want to engage with and share, naturally providing us with insights about what matters to them.

Cultural events like Uproar and content series like “First Time with Simba” generate rich, permission-based data about our community’s interests and values. People engage because they’re genuinely interested, not because they’re being tracked.

This privacy-first approach actually strengthens our community connection. When people choose to engage with our content and experiences, the data we gather is more meaningful and actionable than any tracking pixel could provide. It’s about building trust through valuable experiences rather than extracting data through surveillance.

(BP): Have AI tools helped you personalize campaigns regionally—considering the hyper-local drinking cultures across Indian cities? Can you give an example?

(PS): India’s cultural diversity is incredible, and technology helps us recognize and celebrate these differences rather than homogenizing our approach. Each of our 17 states has distinct cultural nuances, and we use data to understand how our brand story resonates differently across regions.

For instance, our support for underground hip-hop culture manifests differently in Delhi versus Bangalore versus Goa. The music scenes, cultural references, and community dynamics vary significantly. We use insights to adapt our cultural partnerships and content approaches while maintaining our core brand identity.

The key is using technology to be more culturally intelligent, not more generic. We want to show up authentically in each community we serve, understanding that what feels rebellious and creative in one city might be completely different in another.

(BP): Is Simba exploring AI-generated creative assets or dynamic ad personalization for platforms like Instagram, Spotify, or YouTube Shorts?

(PS): We’re experimenting with tools that enhance our creative process while keeping human creativity at the center. Our brand has always been about authentic, unscripted experiences, so any technology we use must support that authenticity rather than replace it.

For platforms like YouTube Shorts, we’re using insights to understand which stories and formats resonate most strongly, but every piece of content still starts with genuine human experiences. Our “First Time with Simba” series exemplifies this approach – technology helps us optimize and distribute, but the core content is real people having real experiences.

The goal is to use technology to amplify our human stories more effectively, reaching the right communities at the right moments with content that feels genuinely meaningful and engaging.

(BP):  What KPIs or data signals do you track most closely in your marketing dashboards today—brand recall, retail lift, repeat consumption? How tech-enabled is your attribution framework?

(PS): We measure community engagement and cultural impact alongside traditional metrics. While retail performance matters, we’re equally focused on tracking how deeply we’re connecting with creative communities and cultural movements.

Our dashboards include signals like community participation in our cultural initiatives, depth of engagement with our content series, and the quality of conversations happening around our brand. We track how our partnerships with artists and creators translate into authentic community growth.

The attribution framework connects cultural engagement to business outcomes, helping us understand which authentic connections drive the strongest long-term loyalty. It’s about measuring the strength of relationships, not just the volume of transactions.

(BP): How do you see the role of AI in elevating experiential marketing—say, through gamification, AR/VR activations, or AI chatbots for event engagement?

(PS): Experiential marketing is where Simba truly shines, and technology should enhance those real-world connections rather than replace them. Our approach focuses on using tools to create more meaningful, more personalized experiences that bring people together.

Events like Uproar demonstrate how technology can amplify authentic cultural experiences. We use data to curate better artist lineups, create more engaging event formats, and connect attendees with experiences that match their cultural interests.

The future lies in using technology to create experiences that feel more human, not more digital. Whether that’s through personalized event recommendations or tools that help people connect with like-minded community members, the goal is always deeper human connection.

(BP): If given an unlimited AI budget, what would be the first MarTech experiment you’d run at Simba to radically reimagine how beer is marketed in India?

(PS): We would create a cultural intelligence platform that helps us identify and support emerging creative movements before they go mainstream. Imagine technology that could spot the next underground music scene, the next street art movement, or the next creative community that’s about to break through.

This platform would help us be true cultural pioneers – not just following trends, but actively supporting the creators and communities that shape cultural conversations. We’d use it to identify artists, venues, and cultural moments where Simba could contribute meaningfully to the creative ecosystem.

The goal wouldn’t be to predict what’s popular, but to recognize what’s authentic and culturally significant. This approach would position Simba not just as a beer brand, but as a genuine supporter of India’s evolving creative landscape – which is exactly who we’ve always been, just with better tools to do it at scale.