What is it?

Selfridges has never been just a shop. In recent years we have seen a number of experiential installations from brands utilising the space Selfridges offers. In 2011 it was the The Truvia Voyage of Discovery, a boating lake and cocktail bar that lived on the Selfridges rooftop, and last summer the roof was occupied by Jellymongers Bompass and Parr’s crazy golf course. Non-Olympic sponsor Nike marked the Summer of Sport in the store with their House of Innovation experiential retail space, and for last September’s London Fashion Week, Mercedes and Bompass and Parr created the ultimate drive thru in the lobby of the old Selfridges Hotel.

Since then it has been a case of waiting until the next installation is revealed.

Attention on the store has reached new heights of late following the release of Mr Selfridge, the ITV drama focusing on the shop’s founder Harry Gordon Selfridge, with the first episode attracting 7.2 million viewers. So what better way to play on this wave of interest than by re-creating a concept Mr Selfridge himself launched in 1909? Over 100 years ago the Silence Room at Selfridges was born, and now it’s back in the form of a partnership with meditation gurus Headspace and the creation of No Noise at Selfridges.

No Noise is visible throughout the store with four of the shop windows designed by conceptual artist Katie Paterson, the Food Hall emphasising simple and honest food, and Headspace pods delivering meditative messages in all departments. However, the main focus is on the reincarnation of Selfridge’s Silence Room and the development of the Quiet Shop. Designed by architect Alex Cochrane, this inner-sanctum asks customers to leave all their 21^st Century distractions at the door and escape from the hustle and bustle associated with modern-day high-street shopping.

While the Silence Room – a completely shopping-free space – is unexpected from a retail giant, it is the accompanying Quiet Shop that is the most innovative component of No Noise in terms of support from brands. Selfridges have in fact persuaded them to de-brand. Stripped of their logos, Marmite, Heinz, Beats by Dre and Levis are just a few examples of brands whose logo-less products are available to buy within the Quiet Shop. Selfridges too have removed their name from their own illustrious yellow shopping bags.

Why we love it?

In the month when everyone is trying to get over both the excess and expense of Christmas, and dispel memories of stressful present buying, Selfridges have created a pop-up experience that puts the pleasure back into shopping.

No Noise works on so many levels: it certainly has a PR stunt element which has led to its initial coverage, but this installation is not to be short-lived; running until the end of February, a plethora of shoppers will have a unique consumer experience that is sure to lead to continued press for Selfridges.

Although only a item that has recognisable packaging could get away with de-branding, by icons such as Heinz buying into this concept they are themselves gaining publicity, with many suggesting that the logo-less items will also soon become collector’s items. However, it is the Selfridges brand that is the ultimate winner, with the buy-in and support from so many giants of the retail world delivering No Noise the shout out it deserves.

No Noise at Selfridges does have many separate elements to it, but the store has ensured that focus sticks to the theme of de-cluttering the shopping experience. As we know in our industry, simple ideas are often the best ideas and what could be more simple than silence.

By Fiona Watherston on January 14th, 2013

Tags: Default, Experiential marketing, Fashion, Food & Drink, Public relations

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Here at Synergy, we’ve all been very impressed with Marmite’s Christmas lights activation just down the road from us on Oxford Street. Marmite’s sponsorship of the lights is all about giving exposure to the new Marmite Gold. But it’s certainly not just a badging exercise; Marmite has gone the extra mile, creating a campaign that engages customers while reinforcing its traditional brand territory around Love and Hate, and at the same launching a new product. Impressive stuff.

So what has Marmite done? Never afraid of innovating, it has created an ambitious campaign with a strong online / offline link. For the first stage of the campaign it invited lovers and haters to have some fun with a new app on Facebook, allowing them to submit photos of themselves expressing their feelings about Marmite to then appear on a large digital screen within the famous Christmas lights.  But it is the next stage of the activity that has really caught our imagination. A photobooth has been installed at an Oxford Street bus stop, allowing customers to take their own photo and once again become famous for just a minute, with their picture appearing within the Christmas lights. Check out Synergy’s very own Luke Auty below. Clearly not a fan…

Why does this work? Well, everyone loves taking photos, and few can resist the lure of fifteen minutes of fame. But it also works for Marmite as a brand, with Love and Hate central to the photo activity as people are asked to show their emotion about the product. All this comes together in a great piece of experiential activity that provides genuine fun for customers while also landing the brand message. Acknowledging that people hate it has always been a bold approach, but one that Marmite clearly finds fruitful from a long-term brand-building perspective.

This isn’t the first piece of photobooth activity we’ve seen this year. As part of its Olympic sponsorship, adidas installed a photobooth at the athletes’ kitting-out event, showing a softer side to Olympic athletes and generating significant media coverage. The booth was also installed for shoppers in Westfield shopping centre – with a surprise visit by David Beckham to unsuspecting customers a high point of the campaign. With clear potential to create meaningful touchpoints with customers it is no surprise we are seeing more of this sort of activity by brands. This is the opposite of brands forcing content on customers – here they are providing a platform for customers to become brand ambassadors themselves.

With the popularity of photobooth-type activity and its clear potential to engage with customers, we expect to see it forming part of brands’ campaigns to a greater and greater extent. Look out for innovations in the space too, with 3D printing set to become more commonplace, and brands becoming ever more inventive about where customer photos are displayed and how they are used. Marmite has given us lots of (dark, salty and spreadable) food for thought about experiential innovations. And even for those Marmite-haters out there, there is a lot in this idea to love.

By Jessica Enoch on December 5th, 2012

Tags: Advertising, Default, Experiential marketing, Facebook, Food & Drink, Sponsorship, Sponsorship consultants

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Synergy, working as part of a cross agency team, has developed a rugby campaign this autumn to activate the GUINNESS brand’s rugby partnerships with the RFU, WRU, Scottish Rugby and the IRFU. Synergy contracted GUINNESS rugby ambassadors Lewis Moody, Lee Byrne and Sean Lamont (alongside Irish winger Tommy Bowe) to create an integrated campaign across TV, print, digital and PR targeting international rugby fans.

The ambassadors featured in print ads showing them flying the GUINNESS flag and giving their all for their country, in doing so proving that they themselves are made of more. Point-of-sale creative was rolled out in pubs and supermarkets across the country offering fans the chance to win tickets to the RBS 6 Nations (of which GUINNESS are Official Beer Partner).

Synergy secured national and regional press, broadcast and online coverage across England, Scotland and Wales through interviews with the players. Dynamic action shots of the players accompanied the interviews linking their national flag with the flag featuring in the TV ad campaign and reinforcing the brand’s support of the home nations.

To get fans closer to the action, we sponsored the Lewis Moody app to deliver an exclusive blog. GUINNESS fans who left messages of support for both Lewis and Lee on the brands Facebook page had the chance to receive personalised messages back from the players.

For those fans that haven’t been able to follow their team out to New Zealand, our man “Hutch” has been supplying a weekly video diary of his travels and meeting the home nations’ supporters.

To engage fans offline we took England pace man Ugo Monye to Asda in Gloucester to meet fans and staff at the supermarket, allowing them to have their photo taken with the rugby star and take part in the GUINNESS Rugby Reflex game.

Finally, the campaign’s TV ad, directed by Oscar winner Tom Hooper and produced by ad agency AMV, sees our intrepid hero overcome an army to prove that he and his team are made of more. Check it out below.

By Caroline Ayling on October 13th, 2011

Tags: Advertising, Alcohol, Facebook, Food & Drink, Guinness, PR, Public relations, RBS 6 Nations, Rugby, Synergy, YouTube

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Sponsorship is dead, long live sponsorship

Those of you who are regular readers of Synopsis may have spotted a pattern. The lead articles are not Synergy’s random musings but rather the building blocks of a bigger story about the new rules of sponsorship.

But before we get to the rules, a little bit of context. Like all marketing disciplines, sponsorship has evolved over time…but every now and then, there is a paradigm shift which generates an explosion of innovation and introduces a completely new way of acting. Excitingly, we have entered one of these new eras – the 4th Era of Sponsorship.

Below is a rough timeline of how the Sponsorship Industry has evolved. There is never a clear line in the sand to separate the various eras (and of course there are always sponsorship programmes that are ahead of their time), but to keep things simple, they can be broadly separated into decades.

1970s: The Dark Art

The very beginnings of the sponsorship industry were characterised by informal deals done on a handshake in smoke-filled rooms — often literally smoke-filled, as much of the early days of sponsorship were driven by cigarette brands putting their brand on the side of fast cars to circumvent advertising restrictions.

1980s – 1990s: Off-the-Peg

Patrick Nally is credited as being the founding father of modern sponsorship. His ground-breaking partnership deal with Coca-Cola for the 1978 FIFA World Cup effectively ‘invented’ the concept of a rights package. This has set the template for how sponsorships have been packaged and sold by rightsholders ever since.

2000s: Tailored

Brands started to become much more sophisticated and proactive in terms of how they approached sponsorship. No longer was it thought of as a collection of off-the-shelf rights or as a separate marketing channel, but rather as an asset that could be integrated into the overall marketing mix and used to increase the effectiveness of the brand’s marketing activity.

2010: Social

The 4th Era is the “Social Era” for two reasons. Firstly, it has been enabled by social media which has allowed people (and brands) with shared interests to engage with each other at a scale and depth that has never before been possible. Social also refers to a sense of ‘Higher Purpose’ – the ability of a sponsorship programme to connect with its audience by delivering something that really matters.

The Rules of the Social Era

Moving to the Social Era has changed the game of sponsorship and everyone can benefit from knowing the new rules. We have analysed hundreds of best practice case studies from the world of sponsorship and beyond to identify and codify the keys to success in the Social Era.

We have been examining these new rules one by one over the past 5 months but now it is time to bring them all together.

It’s as easy as ABCDE…

Rule 1: Authenticity

Endorses for Courses by Jon Izzard

The best sponsorship programmes, the ones that really resonate with the audience, feel completely natural. The brand simply feels at home in the space. Think of Red Bull and extreme sports, Cartier and Polo, Robinsons and Wimbledon, Unicef and FC Barcelona, Coca-Cola and the Olympic Games, Moët & Chandon and F1. There are loads of sources of authenticity: products, geography, heritage, brand message and simple longevity.

Some brands have to work hard to establish authenticity in a given space, but it is imperative that they do because the very audience that a sponsor is trying to connect with can see through an imposter straight away. Skoda’s sponsorship of the Tour de France provides a great example of a brand working hard to establish credibility in a space where its source of credibility may not be immediately obvious.  Brilliant:

Rule 2: Beyond your Brand

What Can Sponsorship Learn from Farmville by Liz Brown

Sponsorship is about a brand becoming a natural part of their customers’ lives — but the audience needs a reason to invite a brand into their lives.  Brands that view the relationship with their audience as a one-way value exchange and think only in terms of “what will we get out of it”, have no chance of forming the kind of relationship they want. Again, there are a number of ways that brands can demonstrate “Beyond your Brand” thinking, focusing on delivering benefits to their customers (O2 Priority), the property (Converse and London’s 100 Club) and society as a whole (RBS RugbyForce).

Rule 3: Content

Is Content Really King by Ben Wilkinson

Consumers want to learn, laugh, discover, share, be entertained and be inspired.  And they want to do all these things around topics that are of specific interest to them.  That is what sponsorship allows you to do: create relevant content around your audience’s passion points.  But brands have to be creative to capture attention — posting a video of “talking heads” on YouTube and hoping for the best is not enough.  Great content is about innovation.  It’s about finding something that connects and resonates with your audience and providing it how they want it, when they want it and where they want it.

Our favourite example of this is Converse Domaination — a campaign that not only puts great content at its heart but also shows a perfect understanding of its audience.  Enjoy.

Rule 4: Dialogue

D is for Dialogue by Carsten Thode

Talking to each other, sharing ideas, working together, creating things, discovering  new stuff,  having fun, laughing, crying, flirting, arguing – everything that makes life worth living is built on our ability to actively engage with each other. Why should that be different from the relationships we build with the brands in our lives?

Yet for most of its history, marketing has been pretty much a one-way conversation where brands tell you what they want you to know and the customer has no way of talking back.  However, the digital age, and particularly the social media age, has smashed through the barrier separating brands from their consumers.

Now it is possible to source brilliant ideas from your customers such as Pepsi Refresh and GE Ecomagination, or to tailor your marketing in real-time to reflect input from your customers. The Old Spice Man is a classic case in point of how much more engaging the conversation becomes if you give your customers a voice.

Rule 5: Entertainment

Passion Pointers by Tom Gladstone

Sport has a particular ability to evoke strong emotions through its personal stories of courage, inspiration and determination; through its inherent unpredictability, excitement and drama. Those emotions are an essential component of successful sponsorship – and are as relevant across other sponsorship platforms (music, film, fashion, art) as they are in sport. Harness the emotions correctly, and your consumers will add the catalyst of conversation.

But while simply being visible within a passion point might increase the chances of getting noticed, it doesn’t win a place in consumers’ hearts. There has to be active emotional involvement, not just proximity or presence — engagement not impressions. Whether brands capitalise on moments of high emotion or they tap into the core emotional sensibility of the passion point, anchored in anticipation, pride, patriotism, celebration, or even pain, they all need to exhibit genuine empathy and understanding.

This rule is articulated nicely by Mark Harrison, Chair of the Canadian Sponsorship Forum: ‘You can’t manufacture emotion. It’s already there. When you find it – just find a way to trigger it; tap into it; fuel it; and watch it grow into something remarkable.’

Using ABCDE

ABCDE is not a menu, where you can choose one or two elements to focus on. Rather, a great sponsorship programme will deliver against all the rules of the 4th Era.

Obviously, this framework isn’t rocket science, but at Synergy, we have found it to be incredibly useful as we advise our clients at every point of the sponsorship process.  We use it not only as a kind of checklist to diagnose where we are strong and where we need to work harder but also to ensure that all elements of the sponsorship programme - from creating the strategy and identifying the right assets right through to the activation – deliver the ABCDE.  So, before signing off, here are a few ways that it can be used to make your sponsorship programmes even more powerful:

1. Articulate specifically how you are using sponsorship to deliver all elements of ABCDE. Sponsorship strategies should use deep audience insight and a clear understanding of the business and brand to ensure that you are using sponsorship as effectively as possible in the 4th Era

2. When making the decision to acquire a new sponsorship asset, make sure that there is a concrete plan in place to deliver the ABCDE. Use it as part of the screening process and answer questions like: “What gives my brand authenticity in this space? How can I build or acquire authenticity?”  “What is the higher purpose of the sponsorship?  How are we adding value?”

3. When creating activation plans, be specific about which elements of ABCDE you need to focus on and how you will be able to deliver them.  For example: “How can we stimulate dialogue amongst our audience?  What role should our brand play in that conversation”

4. Factor ABCDE into your measurement. Create specific targets around each element and evaluate your success at achieving them.  Where do you have to work harder?

© Synergy Sponsorship a trading division of Engine Partners UK LLP 2011.  All rights reserved

By Carsten Thode on September 1st, 2011

Tags: Advertising, Brand marketing, Branded content, Communications, community, Consultancy, Content, Default, Design, Digital marketing, Event management consultants, Event management service, Experiential marketing, Food & Drink, Football Sponsorship, Olympic sponsorship, Olympic sponsorship consultants, Sales promotion, Sponsorship, Sponsorship consultancy, Sponsorship consultants, Sport, Synergy, Synergy Loves, Synopsis, Twitter, Viral Marketing

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It’s summertime and Festival Fever is in the air. Over the last decade the festival scene has evolved. From grungy music festivals to a broad spectrum of events to suit young and old, ‘musos’ to ‘foodies’, there is something for everyone. Entertainment options range from large scale music festivals to small boutique-style events. In cash-strapped times, when family holidays abroad are an unnecessary expense, weekends away to UK festivals and events has become favoured family entertainment at great value.

We talk a lot about ‘passion points’ in sponsorship and festival and live event partnerships offer brands the perfect opportunity to target the desired audience engaging on a personal level. And if the event or festival doesn’t exist then why not create one, specifically for the consumer, to deliver the ‘Holy Grail’ for event and experiential marketing…..the perfect brand experience that delivers results.

The Synergy experiential team has picked out some of our favourite summer events and festivals from sponsored events to events created by brands…enjoy.

What: LolliBop – The Big Bash for Little People
Where: Regents Park
When: 5th – 7th August

Described as a ‘magical land of endless fun’ for the under 10s that offers the thrills of a festival vibe but without the hassle of camping or long car journeys, LolliBop is the UK’s only festival where all of the entertainment is for children. Adults are also offered a wealth of treats including guest musicians and DJs, relaxing cocktails, tea & treatments, market stalls and a real ale festival bar.

Two brands who have seen the value of being involved with Lollibop are Britvic and Organix. At this year’s event Britvic sampled their My5 product and encouraged children to take part in fruit themed games whilst Organix used the festival to seed their recently launched Mighty Meals range amongst influential mums.

What: Taste of London
Where: Regents Park
When: 16-19 June

Fine dining transported to Regent’s Park for four days of summer eating, drinking and entertainment.  What more could you want from a festival!  With over 40 of the city’s best restaurants dishing up their finest in an unbeatable alfresco gourmet feast,  while 200 producers provide a bounty of the best food and beverages, ensuring guests sample and shop for a range of produce in the laid back atmosphere of a boutique food market.

With restaurants fashioning special menus of starter sized dishes for the occasion, including signature dishes created by chefs to specially reflect their philosophy and showcase seasonal and premium ingredients it is certainly worth the wait at the restaurants you may not usually have access to, however it isn’t cheap with dishes ranging from £3-£5, if you wish to try an array of dishes.

Sponsored by British Airways, Executive Club member (Gold and Silver) have access to the VIP Lounge, re-creation of the super luxurious airport lounges with champagne and delicious dishes from BA’s executive chefs. Other brands involved include the AEG cookery school and to celebrate the release of their brand new 508 model, this year at Taste, Peugeot launched their baking Theatre, La Pâtisserie.

When the weather is great, Taste of London is a must, however if the British Summer rain is threatening, be sure to take your Hunters and brollies as limited cover does put a little dampener on the occasion.

What: Ben & Jerry’s Double Scoop Sundae Festival 2011
Where: Clapham Common, London & Heaton Park, Manchester
When: 23rd & 24th July

This family-oriented music festival, occurring at two venues over the course of two days, draws over 40,000 fans, more than 25 acts, and of course consists of tons of free Ben & Jerry’s Fairtrade ice cream.

Perhaps the greatest appeal of this festival for children and adults alike is its ability to bring out the little kid in everyone.  With its fairground attractions, like meeting the animals at the petting zoo, playing games like Ice Your Own Cookies, and suggesting new ice cream recipe activities, this interactive event is certainly one not to dismiss.

A diverse range of music features throughout the festival, with line-ups of live acts including Maximo Park, Ocean Colour Scene, Fun Lovin’ Criminals and Gary Numan. Not only does it play host to a number of good charities and causes, but the Ben and Jerry’s Sundae Festival is also climate neutral, so you can enjoy the fun in the sun without the extra guilt!

The only downside of this tasty family experience is the risk of adverse weather conditions raining on the fun, which is sure to turn Mississippi Mud Pie into more than just an ice cream flavour. But when the sun is shining, this is a perfect way to spend a summer’s day with friends and family.

What: Bulmers Cider Garden
Where: London’s South Bank
When: 3rd-14th August

Cider lovers, this is the place for you! A pop-up bar has appeared on London’s South Bank, inviting people to soak up the August sunshine and pop open a Bulmers No 17 (Bulmer’s newest product containing crushed red berries).

The Bulmers Cider Garden is open to everyone (over 18) and offers live music curated by Festival aficionados Rob Da Funk and free samples of the fruity drink.

In addition to the music and free refreshments,   visitors can take part in a series of fun experiments to help Bulmers find the ultimate cider drinking experience and enjoy some experimental acts on the Bulmers Experimenter’s Stage.

What: The British Gas Big Dip
Where: Clapham Common, London
When: July/August 2011

In the last month Clapham Common has been transformed into an ‘urban Swim festival’. The event, the brainchild of Olympic medallist Steve Parry, is supported by British Gas and is an extension of its British Swimming sponsorship. The brand objective for British Gas is to get people together through swimming, which is central to this event.

The Big Dip consists of a pool, beach, kids entertainment and, a must for all event these days, a recycle campaign – the ‘Speedo swim amnesty’. The event is a great, reasonably priced activity for families and children to while away the hours of the long school holidays. And for British Gas, what a great opportunity to engage its customers with its brand and sponsorship campaign and a strong message of community. http://bigdip.co.uk/

What: Field Day
When: 6th August 2011
Where: Victoria Park, London, E3

Field Day is not what you could call a brand lead festival, it’s more of a gathering of ‘in-the-know hipsters’. For anyone who knows me I am certainly not one of these but a friend’s hen do gathered the girls in a sunny Victoria Park for an afternoon of dancing, fairground rides and pear cider.

Despite the trendy crowd rebuffing too much brand led activity there were a couple of partnerships of note. Firstly the organisers teamed up with The Independent as a media partner to promote tickets to the festival targeting the liberal free-thinkers. They had a stand on site near the Village Green but to be honest I didn’t see too many people reading on site. Then there was the summer festival must have – the Pimms bus. Parked up with their traditional English picket fence and picnic tables they fit right in with the central village fete area. There is certainly more that brands could bring to Field Day but I’m not so sure the audience would take kindly to a title sponsor.

What: Hackney Wicked
Where: Hackney Wick, London
When: Friday 29th July – Sunday 31st July 2011

Sandwiched between the Olympic Park and Victoria Park lies Hackney Wick – an unassuming place with the highest number of artists per capita in the world. For the fourth year, Hackney Wick puts on a 3 day East London arts festival aptly named ‘Hackney WickED’. Fuelling the existing art scene, the festival showcases work from both local and international artists through studios, mobile galleries, graffiti jams, pop up spaces, installations, live music stages and events.

Special events saw film screenings at the Floating Cinema, Films on Fridges and Folly for a Flyover. Not forgetting the opportunity to try a coracle on the River Lee with the emerging Olympic Park in background.

Described as “a post-apocalyptic world where only the artists survived” this is a festival with a real sense of community and passion for the local arts scene.

By Synergy on August 22nd, 2011

Tags: Brand marketing, Default, Experiential marketing, Food & Drink, Music, PR, Public relations, Synergy Loves

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Who is ‘The Glenlivet Man’?  That’s what Synergy was tasked to help  bring to life at Chivas Brothers’ very own offices.  The idea was to give Glenlivet employees a visceral taste of their target audience by immersing themselves in The Glenlivet Man’s lifestyle and passions

On arriving at their offices one morning, staff were met by a redesigned office space which was completely decked out from top to bottom in Glenlivet green, cream and gold. Detail hit every corner including the washrooms where green and cream Molton Brown handwash sat underneath quotes epitomising the brand values.

The Glenlivet Room contained a ‘Glenlivet through the ages’ display which helped to encapsulate the unique heritage of the brand.  Throw in a few Glenlivet green bean bags and we had ourselves a veritable treat of a workshop room!

Refreshments are always a way to employees’ hearts.  As the queue in the canteen developed it seemed the pairing of 12YO, 15YO and 18YO Glenlivet Single Malts with a range of nouveau desserts (to match the different tastes) would outdo all the other work we had put in (and would make for an especially unproductive afternoon).

However, the most attention-grabbing room turned out to be the one set aside to explore  The Glenlivet Man’s recreational habits. Decked out with coat and hat stands, the room featured a wet shave barber and shoe shiner to attend to staff in a way that The Glenlivet Man might be attended to himself. While ‘Mr Swervy’, our truly ‘one-of-a-kind’ shoe shiner, pulled more customers, it was those who took to the chair for a wet shave who got to experience 20mins of pure Glenlivet Man living.  Magazines which appealed to the gent-about-town and only the highest quality chatter with our Pall Mall Barber Ben left the participants feeling debonair and ready to recommence work with a new vigour.

With Glenlivet fever a firm fixture in the office, it was demanded that the new look branding be left in place around the office.  Our job was done – Glenlivet and ‘The Glenlivet Man’ brought to life in the Chivas office block!  A little bit of Belgravia brought to Hammersmith on a Tuesday afternoon.

By Luke Auty on July 26th, 2011

Tags: Alcohol, Default, Event management consultants, Food & Drink, Synergy, Synopsis

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This May, Synergy worked with Chivas Regal, the world’s original luxury Scotch whisky, on an international guest management programme, which saw over two hundred guests walk up the infamous red carpet as part of Chivas Regal’s sponsorship of the 64th Cannes Film Festival.

Now in its third year, the programme was even more glamorous, star studded and luxurious. Guests from 19 global markets participated in a 24 hour action packed itinerary throughout the 10 day event. Guests stayed at the 5 star luxury Hotel Martinez, home too many of the A-list stars throughout their time in Cannes. A dedicated Chivas Salon and Gentleman’s Quarter was offered, allowing guests to be pampered and made-up before walking down the red carpet in front of the world’s media. They were wined and dined at the Michelin starred Palme d’Or restaurant and finished the night in style at the Chivas House where they partied in style until the early hours drinking a range of exclusive Chivas cocktails. Their experience was rounded off with lunch on the beach front and a helicopter trip back to the airport.

Home to celebrities and Chivas Regal guests throughout the Cannes Film Festival

Chivas House - after-party venue for guests

In addition to all the glitz and glamour, the 2011 campaign saw the launch of a new and hugely important partnership, with the charity FilmAid International. Movie legend and President of the Jury for this year’s Festival de Cannes, Robert De Niro attended the launch to show his support for the initiative, which will help educate and inspire communities in need through the power of film. An initial donation of $100,000 (US) was made by Chivas Regal to support FilmAid projects across the world. The partnership aligns well with values that Chivas Regal is passionate about: brotherhood, generosity and integrity.

Film legend Robert De Niro attends the Chivas Regal and FilmAid partnership launch in Cannes - May 2011

FilmAid International is a humanitarian organisation that harnesses the power of film to educate and bring hope to refugees and other communities in need around the globe. FilmAid works in partnership with the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) and other global aid organisations to bring film and video programs that inform, inspire and empower to more than 1 million people.

To further build global awareness as a truly premium Scotch whisky brand and of their continuing partnership with the internationally renowned Film Festival, increased advertising was taken around the town at key locations, further highlighting them as a major player within the film industry.

Chivas 25 advertising, located outside the Palais des Festival on the Croisette

Additional Chivas branding in Cannes

Aside from all the hard work and long hours spent in a darkened office (which Kayne West actually walked through), the Synergy team put spare time to good use with some shameless celeb spotting. Our key spots include, Jude Law (swoon), Robert De Niro (cool), Jane Fonda (seriously, nearly 85?), Patrick Dempsey (McDreamy), Ronnie Wood (and pet dog), Eva Herzigova (cracking legs) and none other than Mrs Doubtfire herself!

Emily, Sam and Mrs Doubtfire!

By Synergy on June 17th, 2011

Tags: Alcohol, Awards, Default, Event management consultants, Food & Drink, Public relations, Sponsorship, Synergy, Travel, Twitter

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Ballantine’s 12 (the twelve-year-old aged brand of Ballantine’s, the world’s number two whisky) wanted to own an engaging PR property that would help its markets generate PR at a local level  – bringing to life the Ballantine’s 12 creative territory of “…leaves an impression by taking you BEYOND”.

Rising to the challenge, Synergy devised the first ever Art of BEYOND bar(above) for Ballantine’s 12, designed to combine a media launch with a whisky education for all guests.  Our role included creating the concept, developing a list of potential artists, commissioning and managing the artists during the design phase and installation process, guest and event management during the unveiling and creating a PR activation toolkit to send out to markets to inspire them to create their own Art of BEYOND events locally.

Ballantine’s commissioned six top European artists and designers (L-R below: Jovo Bozhinovski, Laurent Louyer, Luis Gallussi, Lee Broom, Oskar Zieta, Rolf Sachs – with Ballantine’s ambassador Fredrik Olsson) from different disciplines to each create a different element of the concept bar. It was crucial that the artists resonnated with the brand’s key markets such as Bulgaria, Poland, France and Spain, and that their very individual designs worked together to form a cohesive, BEYOND concept.

Bulgaria’s Jovo Bozhinovski (below) was responsible for creating the floor to represent the landmass of Scotland, home of Ballantine’s, as a shimmering puddle of water and therefore create the illusion of a bar that is literally melting.

Lee Broom created the bar stools (below), influenced by old-fashioned cut glass and crystal decanters with a youthful twist, reflecting the brand heritage perfectly.

Creatmosphere, the creative lighting studio, used artistc lighting (below) to hide and reveal the individual elements of the installation and create the ambience within the Art of BEYOND bar.

Spanish based artist Luis Galliussi was responsible for the wall design (below) where he used trompe l’oeil effects with the Ballantine’s logo.

Rolf Sachs (below) designed a new glass for the Ballantine’s 12 Art of BEYOND Bar called Double Take. The surface of the whisky glass was frosted and included reversed text which could only be clearly read when the contents of the glass had been drunk and the mirrored coaster accompanying the glass had been used, revealing the Ballantine’s 12 Year Old brand manifesto.

Poland’s Oskar Zieta was responsible for creating the actual bar (below).  Using his patented method of inflating steel he created a bar which resembled a pile of icecubes.

To add to the experience, Fredrik Olsson, Ballantine’s 12 Year Old ambassador, created a series of Art of BEYOND cocktails inspired by the work of the artists for guests to enjoy.

By all accounts the event was a huge success. As well as press coverage on the event, an extensive library of stock photography and video footage was secured and created a base for Ballantine’s to build on both in the art world and across all of its global markets.

By Lydia Oates on April 20th, 2011

Tags: Alcohol, Art & Design, Brand marketing, Communications, Design, Food & Drink, PR, Synergy, Synopsis

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A couple weeks ago, I entered the wacky world of the Experimental Food Society off Brick Lane and the experience made such an impression on me that it is still providing significant food for thought.

An obvious by-product of the credit crunch has been that brands understandably now want to achieve far more with a considerably smaller budget. Perhaps unsurprisingly, food automatically lends itself to such a concept. Used wisely, food can be a relatively affordable and creative medium with which brands can associate themselves to convey messages to consumers who see it as a reassuring, accessible concept that they can have a view on.

Successful experiential marketing should mean producing a greater brand presence and deeper interaction with consumers. Can this be done on tighter budgets? Well yes it can, but it invariably requires the brand to be brave enough to jump into the unknown.

Being a cake lover, admiration soon overtook my initial uncertainty as I acquainted myself with the life-sized chocolate gorilla that greeted me at the door of the Experimental Food Society event, courtesy of Love to Cake.

This was then followed by Sharon Baker who was casting people’s body parts in bread to create some eerie ‘hand sandwiches’ (that would probably have gone down well if you worked on Silent Witness.)

This was topped off by the guys from Blanch and Shock who, specialising in ‘theatre food’, took great delight in amazing guests with their delicious, mind-boggling treats such as apple juice suspended in a bubble which popped on eating to create a sensory drinking experience.

On to another exhibiton. Tate and Lyle is one of the more well-known companies to recently see the benefit of thinking outside the box and engaging with the food related art world, becoming title sponsors of Cake Britain, The Mad Artist Tea Party. This two-day exhibition was made entirely out of cake (which of course Tate and Lyle’s products play a large role in creating) and was slowly munched away by visitors.

In fact, it was so popular that when I arrived a couple of hours after opening, the exhibition had almost been completely devoured with only piles of crumbs and advertising boards providing evidence of what had gone before.

Being merely one ingredient that isn’t easily engaged with, Tate and Lyle did a fantastic job in associating itself with an event for upcoming food artists that was inspiring and fun. The exhibition also provided a stage for the brand to push its Fair Trade message that was given credibility through its mere association with the young British artists in residence.

Everybody shares a love of food in some form and by creating engaging events such as those of the Experiential Food Society or Cake Britain, brands manage to cut through the plethora of competitor activity taking place and resonate with their audience in a far more captivating and cost efficient way.

By Lydia Oates on October 18th, 2010

Tags: Brand marketing, Experiential marketing, Food & Drink, Sponsorship

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