Bacardi: Case study

Credits & Description:

Brand BACARDI
BBDO NEW YORK New York, USA Entrant Company
BBDO NEW YORK New York, USA Idea Creation
PHANTOSCOPIC London, United Kingdom Production
HARRISON & SHRIFTMAN New York, USA PR
OMD USA New York, USA Media Placement
EG+ WORLDWIDE New York, USA Additional Company
BBDO STUDIOS New York, USA Additional Company
MARMOSET MUSIC Portland, USA Additional Company
DIRTY LOOKS London, United Kingdom Additional Company
THE MILL New York, USA Additional Company
David Lubars BBDO Worldwide Chief Creative Officer
Greg Hahn BBDO New York Chief Creative Officer
Danilo Boer BBDO New York Executive Creative Directors
Marcos Kotlhar BBDO New York Executive Creative Directors
Jim Connolly BBDO New York Associate Creative Director/Copywriter
Marcus Johnston BBDO New York Associate Creative DIrector/Art Director
Dennis Payongayong BBDO New York Design Director
Genelle Salazer BBDO New York Senior Designer
Amy Cruz BBDO New York Designers
Brandon Galosi BBDO New York Designers
Kristin Tomborello BBDO New York Executive Producer
Andrew Osborne BBDO New York Producer
Steven Panarielo BBDO New York Account Team
Joshua Goodman BBDO New York Account Team
Meghan Wood BBDO New York Account Team
Rachel Passman BBDO New York Account Team
Heather Leferve BBDO New York Planning Team
Deyvis Rodriguez BBDO New York Planning Team
Patrick Tomasiewicz BBDO New York Planning Team
Bryant Lim BBDO New York Planning Team
Danielle Lukacs BBDO New York Artist Management
Shayne Alexander BBDO New York Artist Management
Iain Forsyth Phantoscopic Ltd. Director
Jane Pollard Phantoscopic Ltd. Director
Benjamin Magahy Phantoscopic Ltd. Director of Photography
Liz Hart Phantoscopic Ltd. Executive Producer
Noelle Nimrichter Phantoscopic Ltd. Line Producer
Nathan Perry-Green Phantoscopic Ltd. Editor
Olly Stothert Phantoscopic Ltd. Editor
Brad Go EG+ Editor
Alex Lubars BBDO Studios Editor
Jeff Reagan BBDO Studios Editor
Michael Gentile BBDO Studios BBDO Studios Lead
Heath Schoengold EG+ Senior Post Producer
Cameron Gray The Mill Producer
Evan Bauer The Mill Producer
Corey Bauman EG+ Audio
Damien Van Der Cruyssen The Mill Colorist
Tom Balkwill Dirty Looks Producer
Vanessa Taylor Dirty Looks Telecine
“Front of the Line” by Major Lazer ft. Machel Montano & Konshens N/A Artist & Song Title
Noreen Masih BBDO New York Senior Project Manager

Synopsis
In recent years, popstars in America and Europe have had huge hits with Caribbean influenced music tracks (that happen to be very popular with Bacardi’s target audience). Meanwhile, real Caribbean music artists struggle to get recognition or the resources to record their own music. With strong Caribbean roots, Bacardi wanted to support authentic island music and give it more exposure.

Strategy
Although Bacardi is the world’s number one authentic Caribbean rum, many millennials see Bacardi as a big liquor brand, not a genuine voice of the Caribbean. To prove Bacardi’s credentials, we partnered with Caribbean influenced band, Major Lazer, to support authentic Caribbean music. By leveraging the popularity of Major Lazer, Music Liberates Music exposed authentic Caribbean music to a whole new audience. This not only proved the brand’s knowledge of new Caribbean music, it showed that Bacardi was invested in the culture it came from.

Outcome
4 million songs plays. 128 hours of studio time generated for Caribbean artists.

8 new tracks featured on an album promoted by Bacardi & Major Lazer.

88 Million earned media impressions. It even launched the career of one our artists, Dynamite from St Vincent, who secured a record deal with Sony, thanks to exposure from the campaign.

Execution
Music Liberates Music was a unique brand partnership that leveraged Major’s Lazer’s fan base to give back to get exposure for real Caribbean artists.

Every 10 plays of Major Lazer’s new track generated 1 second of studio time. This studio time was divided between 8 local artists (chosen by Major Lazer) in 6 Caribbean islands.

The artists were introduced via videos profiling their humble backgrounds and music style, as well as the struggles they faced in recording their own music. Major Lazer supported the campaign with social posts encouraging their fans to generated more studio time.

A Spotify takeover and website hub showed live data of the song plays and studio time generated which was documented in content videos and Instagram Stories. The final recorded songs were then featured on an album and exclusive Spotify playlist that was promoted by Bacardi+Major Lazer to aspiring Caribbean artists the exposure they deserved.

Campaign Description
Bacardi partnered with popular band, Major Lazer to give back to the Caribbean music culture that inspires their sound. Every time someone played Major Lazer’s new track on Spotify, it generated studio time for aspiring Caribbean artists. The artists’ recording sessions were documented live and their new tracks were featured on an album promoted globally by Major Lazer/Bacardi.