ABOUT

Challenge
Desperados, the Heineken owned tequila flavoured beer came to Naked with a simple brief – to make Desperados the party brand for young people around the world.
“Party Brands “all adhere to a similar format around a better DJ/act, better lights and more smoke machines. We termed this “more snake and hot dogs”, with brands becoming completely interchangeable in this area and thus ownership of the experience itself (and memories) very hard.
Conducting ethnographic research across the world one of our respondents said this:
“Brand don’t put on parties, they put on events”
This was a genuine pivotal moment for us to build on. It was a genuine truth.
Investigating the best parties/experiences the world has seen (Burning Man, Glastonbury, Love Parade, La Tomatina) we found one common themes. It wasn’t about what was added in to the mix to make these parties amazing, it was much more about what was taken away.
Burning Man has no currency on site,
Glastonbury is a temporary village with very few rules,
Love Parade takes away inhibitions
La Tomatina removes the need for everyone to look good (after all everyone is covered in tomatoes…).
So bringing the notion of brands not putting on ‘real’ parties and the best parties are about taking something away, we had a clear path to develop some highly conceptual ideas for the ultimate Desperados parties.

Solution
For each party we wanted to remove something to create an edge and a concept that ran through every element of the night.
What resulted was the following –
Next Level:
In London we developed a party for 600 people that removed the notion that a good party is all about one room and one experience. We created a space that had multiple levels and multiple experiences, but these could only be unlocked if the party worked together and worked hard enough to open them. Fake walls, fake/real doors and clues all created a sense of collaboration to open up the Next Level, and the next and the next…3 floors, multiple dj’s and a different unexpected experience on each that acted as a reward.
In Warsaw we removed the concept of time for 1000 people. Inspired by the clocks going back for winter and gaining an extra hour, we invited party goers to live in the moment and have a great time rather than being attached to their mobile phone and the outside world.
Hotel Revelation:

In Milan we opened Hotel Revelation, a space with multiple rooms and multiple experiences that focused on removing the notion of ‘the fear of missing out’. The concept allowed exploration into spaces that were in themselves mini parties. The question was do you stay in that room and commit or try another one? Leave and the party changes behind you, twisting the notion of one party and one experience.
Results
The 3 parties have just been completed and ran over 3 weekends in September and October 2014. The results and findings are still being formulated but the feedback we have received from Heineken Global has been clear – they have been deemed the most successful and most ambitious parties the brand has ever created. Not only that the tickets sold out in 12 hours – our consumers voted with their feet
We changed behavior of party goers and encouraged them to see a better way to party and in doing so ensured the next time they partied they recalled Desperados as the benchmark.

MADEIT CREDITS

Desperados

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