The Baron Samedi rum brand launch

Challenge

Campari wanted to launch The Baron Samedi spiced rum, a new brand in their Canadian rum portfolio. Created to secure a share of the fastest growing spirit segment in North America, The Baron Samedi was up against well-established competitors with high levels of awareness, distribution and consumer loyalty. Our challenge was to raise awareness among millennial men and get them to choose The Baron Samedi.

Inspiration

Our mobile and social-first audience demanded authenticity, and millennial men gravitated towards things that were odd and unfamiliar. Why? Because the odd and unfamiliar stand out and give them social currency – crucial for their desired social interactions.

Idea

We summoned The Baron Samedi – Haitian voodoo’s ‘Spirit of the dead’ – dressed as a corpse and ready for burial, known for disruption, obscenity, debauchery and a fondness for rum. Combining our insight with The Baron Samedi’s personality, ‘The Baron Samedi disrupts your feed’ became our big idea driving all communications.

To bring the idea to life and drive awareness, we opted for a purely social driven and always on branded content approach, a category first in Canada. We created more than 100 pieces of unique content, including influencer partnerships, fan collaborations, swag development, events, and surprise and delight kits.

Growth

The campaign garnered lots of “WTF?!” reactions, but our unconventional approach to launching and keeping The Baron Samedi top of mind helped achieve sales objectives and the brand successfully hit its share goals nationally. The launch received the highest engagement rates across social compared to other competitors in the category, and there’s been consistent community growth of 5% YoY and 69% lower CPM – a testament to the quality of our content. The content was so successful that it was used to launch The Baron Samedi spiced rum in other markets including the U.S. and Australia. Our approach has changed the way Campari develops go-to-market strategies, and we’ve continued to develop the brand since its launch.