Burson-Marsteller

Integrated campaign for Bacardi: Champions Drink Responsibly

Client work • 2nd June 2010

Timeframe

October 2007 – present

Markets and practices involved

The project was run out of the Corporate, Issues and Technology practice within Burson-Marsteller London. The project is now led out of the Digital, Design and Brands practice. The campaign spans 40 Bacardi Limited markets.

Objective/challenge

The objective was to position Bacardi as a responsible company, prepared to address alcohol harm issues.  This was in response to growing pressure from regulators and political stakeholders for the drinks industry to do more to tackle the problems associated with excessive alcohol consumption.

Strategy/Implementation

The campaign targeted the subject of drinking and driving using seven-time Formula 1™ World Champion Michael Schumacher.  The campaign strategy was developed using a stakeholder mapping exercise to identify the key demographics of drivers most likely to drink and drive.  The Champions Drink Responsibly campaign was designed to run for three years, so B-M devised a phased strategy to build Bacardi’s CSR profile and spread the message that ‘Drinking and Driving Don’t Mix.’

Phase 1 involved bringing the message online, with a consumer promotion offering winners the “Driving Experience of a Lifetime” – to be raced around the infamous Ascari race-track in Spain by Michael Schumacher.  The promotion was run online at the campaign website www.championsdrinkresponsibly.com.  B-M devised a PR and digital strategy to drive traffic to the site.  This included two viral videos featuring Michael that were translated into six languages for local market use.  The videos, along with new photography was seeded on key social networking sites such as Facebook, Wikipedia, Flickr, and YouTube.  B-M also used Google Adwords to drive further ‘click-throughs’ to the site.

For phase 2, Burson-Marsteller organised a media trip offering the opportunity to be driven by Michael around the Ascari race circuit, and quality time with the previously elusive Schumacher.  Attendance was secured from a range of key lifestyle and sporting media, including; Hello, OK, GQ, and Esquire and broadcast media such as ESPN Star Sports, Germany’s RTL, Mexico’s TV Azteca, and Times Now from India.  B-M also seeded video messages from Michael to Facebook fan groups, resulting in growing support from across the site.

In phase 3, Burson-Marsteller identified the BBC Top Gear program as a platform to reach the target demographic on a global scale.  However, finding a way to get the campaign on the show, and overcome BBC.

Results

The Top Gear episode was one of the series’ most watched ever.  For the first time the celebrated ‘Stig’ was revealed to be Michael Schumacher.   The episode was watched by over 7.1 million viewers in the UK, and reached a potential audience of 300 million when shown in over 100 countries over the next 18 months.  The episode was the second most viewed YouTube video in the world that week.  The success and popularity of the show resulted in a surge of interest surrounding Bacardi’s corporate responsibility campaign, as well as direct praise from Bacardi’s CEO, Seamus McBride.

Images

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