Desperados: how it became the iconic beer for the millennial generation
We Are Pi won the Grand Prix Award as well as Best Branded Content at The Drum Content Awards 2017. Here, the agency discusses how this was possible thanks to a carefully orchestrated music festival.
Executive Summary
Desperados beer was born a wild experiment of beer and tequila and has grown to become the ultimate millennial party starter in bars, clubs and festivals around the world. The problem is, with historically inconsistent marketing, too many potential fans still saw Desperados as a chilled Mexican beer, not a party starter. To shift perception, we had to make more than great global advertising, we had to service party culture in new and experimental ways. To cement Desperados role, we put its wildly experimental roots to work in music culture.
Strategy
We hosted a zero gravity music festival. For real. In retrospect, it all looks awesome, and it was amazing to experience for all. Bass Drop was a truly life changing experience for over 100 people and a spectacular series of content for millions more. However, it was hard work to pull off. Hard work on epic proportions.
Although zero gravity content is not new, very few people have actually experienced zero gravity flights beyond a handful of space training astronauts, rich tourists, film crews and Ok Go. So, deciding to transform a space training zero gravity plane into a full club location equipped with DJ booth, lights, and then inviting hundreds of party goers from all over the world to experience it - that took some planning (a year) and caused some nail biting (FAA airspace clearance levels of nail biting magnitude).
How we pulled it off, who knows - we can only thank our incredible team and brave clients. Committing to wild experiments in music is a ballsy strategy, delivering against ‘most iconic’ is a big ask - landing Bass Drop felt like a mighty achievement - and a brave step towards achieving what we set out to do.
Results
We set out to deliver a truly iconic life experience, by hosting an awe inspiring ‘brand act’ that consumers could take part in. Desperados Bass Drop was the world’s first festival in zero-gravity, a historic event in music culture. More than just a party, it revealed what happens when you drop the bass in space, 30,000 feet above Las Vegas.
We teamed experimental dance label 'The Barong Family' with Nasa neuroscientist Dr Daniel Levitin and together they created an original Bass Drop mix, sonically designed to sound epic in Zero Gravity.
We then transformed a space-training, Zero Gravity aeroplane into a live music venue and at 30,000 ft when the DJ dropped the bass, the pilot dropped the dance floor propelling the crowd into zero gravity.
This was Desperados most watched and shared content yet. With 59m views we blasted through Heineken completed views benchmarks by 374%, contributing to an 8.2% growth for the EU.
Content created with:
We are Pi
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Desperados
Desperados is a pale lager beer with 5.9% alcohol by volume originally produced by the French brewing company Fischer Brewery, now produced by Karlovačko...
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