Isle of Wight Festival
Campaign Bacardi B-Live Halo Festival Amplification
Client Bacardi
Agency Shine Communications
Timescale June–August 2007
Budget £25,000
Objectives
To raise awareness of Bacardi at the festivals and win coverage in mainstream entertainment media. To create equal or disproportionate brand shout in the cluttered festival and brand arena. To encourage celebrity attendance to the Bacardi area – the Bacardi B-Live tent – and to develop a campaign that was not led by promotions such as ticket giveaways. Shine was also tasked with plugging Bacardi and cranberry juice as a drink option.
Strategy and plan
Shine created two key stories at the Isle of Wight based around the attendance of two very newsworthy couples: Kate Moss and Pete Doherty, and Amy Winehouse and Blake Fielder-Civil.
Celebrity PROs and ‘fixers’, Shine arranged for Bacardi to provide them with buggies and security at the festival. Their presence in the ‘B-Live’ area gave Bacardi and Shine exclusive ownership of the only available photographs of the celebrity couples enjoying the festival experience, with Bacardi branding in the background.
Many of the photos showed the celebrities drinking Bacardi drinks, including Bacardi & Cranberry, with ensuing coverage including stories about Amy Winehouse drinking Bacardi & Cranberry as part of her health kick. Other celebrity guests included Leah Wood and Noel Fielding.
Measurement and evaluation
More than 23 pieces of national coverage across lifestyle magazines and national print media, including The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian. Four pieces appeared in The Sun, four in the Daily Mirror, three in OK! magazine and three in the Daily Star.
The story also made it into Grazia, thelondonpaper, London Lite, Heat, Look and New, and earned multiple mentions on BBC Radio 1. The stories were heavily replicated across online media.
Result
Evaluation is still in progress, but Shine estimates that the festival campaign for Bacardi – including V festival – created 96.5 million opportunities to see.
