The Sol Bar in Shoreditch offers city-dwellers a chance to reconnect with the positive energy and feeling of being in the sun when there isn’t any.
The bar opened yesterday and is filled with specialist SAD lamps that provide the optimal amount of sunlight a day, stimulating the release of serotonin and allowing Londoners to enjoy the vitamin D-boosting benefits of the sun, including the scents, sounds and warm breeze of the summer air.
Research by the brand - conducted in collaboration with Markettiers - found two-thirds (64%) of people in the UK estimate they receive no more than an hour a day, while 82 percent of people agree that having an adequate amount of sunshine daily is important to keeping them healthy.
In addition, 78 percent agree it’s key to improving their mood and over half (56%) of people said that the sun leaves them with low energy, followed by 49% who say it makes them feel sad.
The creative and PR was developed together with PR firm Edelman, and the brand also teamed up with TV presenter and life coach Jeff Brazier for the launch.
"I’m all about positivity and trying to enjoy every moment in life, so when Sol said they were creating a bar where the sun never sets to brighten up our winter evenings, I had to come and check it out," he said.
Speaking to PRWeek UK, Alexander Drake, senior brand manager at Sol explained how the sun has always been integral to Sol’s Mexican heritage since launch in 1899.
"The sun is critical to how it was founded and what it stands for today. So it gave us a launchpad for how we could bring that brand position to life."
"Plus, it’s a topical time as the clocks go back this week so people get one hour less sun in their lives," he said.
Drake said the brand had been working together with Edelman on their new brand position ‘taste the sun’ since the start of the year.
"We knew we wanted to take an earned approach which is why we did the research. Edelman recommended we keep the consumer at the heart of the campaign. We didn’t want it to be purely ad-based, we wanted to offer consumers an experience."
Drake described how the brand adapts to changes in trends and taste in the fast-moving alcohol market.
"New trends come and go, which is why we wanted to offer the bar experience, so consumers can reconnect with the brand," he added.
"Consumers can smell when you’re not being authentic these days. But as a brand I think they can see and understand our reasons with something like this."
