Brief

Patrón wanted to refocus attention and put the budget towards a suitable talent in market to engage with a specific audience. Patrón were aiming to engage with cool, influential, creative people in urban locations who were able to give the brand relevance in their life, whilst ensuring a premium aspirational tone.

Rubber advised the client that the best use of the budget for the year would be to maintain a laser focused press office function to ensure we kept in the thoughts of media through the year, then to identify one key person who could open up their network to the brand and gain organic social mentions in addition to the paid.

To give us a hook for the year, we created the Patrón Paloma with a Twist angle, this was based on research into consumer trends towards personalising their drinks at home and having their own signature serve when visiting cocktail bars. The angle would lead our press office comms allowing us to continue to push the Paloma as requested by the client, and to build relevance with bar staff and influencers doing their own version.

Press Office
– Munich Media Focus

In the first year we focused on engaging key media in Hamburg, to bring them on the re-education process around the sector and Patrón as the market leader. In year two it was key to do the job with Munich media, to ensure consideration for any premium drinks and lifestyle stories.

Rubber hosted a brand immersion and Patrón Paloma cocktail making tutorial at Bar Valentin which would bring to life our 2024 media angle The Patrón Paloma with a Twist, which used the market insight that consumers want to give their drinks a personal touch. We hosted 14 media including GQ, Playboy, Bunte and Marie-Claire, to give a deep dive into the flavours and profile of the different Patrón variants as well as how differing cocktail ingredients work with the spirit. Each person had the chance for a one on one with our brand ambassador Marcel Baumann to create their own personal taste profile matched serve.

Influencer - Alicia Awa

Identifying a suitable influencer talent partner in Germany for an alcohol brand such a Bacardi is a tricky process due to the strict influencer guidelines you need to consider. It was key to find a personality with an edge and a cool factor to appeal to consumers but the person must also be a responsible representation of the brand. Extensive research landed us with Alicia Awa, a German RnB singer who had appeared on the German version of the Voice, giving us the cool musical focus but with a mainstream awareness for reach. Rubber drafted a plan which would allow us to intro Alicia and Patrón as natural partners and then to build on the relationship to give Alicia more ownership and freedom to express her love for Patrón. We agreed two main campaign spikes which would welcome Alicia to the Patrón familia.

Alicia received a special personalised Patrón welcome pack with bottle, glasses recipes cards and an invite to join us in Munich for the brand immersion and for her to create her own personal Patrón Paloma with a Twist.

In Munich we set up two parts to the filming with brand ambassador Marcel, the first was a deep dive into the brand and the world of tequila to learn about taste profiles and what works with each variant. The second gave Alicia the chance to get creative and build her own drink with the help of Marcel, the aptly named Awa’s Patrón Paloma with a Twist.

Now that the relationship between Patrón and Alicia Awa was established, we wanted to build on the cultural relevance part, Alicia had been working on new music and we created a special private listening session for influential people in her network to join for a first listen and to try her Patrón Paloma serve. We invited 20 guests, including stylists, record labels execs, influencers and her girlfriends, each received a bottle of Patrón sent to their home with a personalised invite. The private listening session at Pink Room At Bellboy Bar Berlin was the setting for Alicia to reveal three new never-been-heard-before tracks and her soon to be iconic Awa’s Patrón Paloma with a Twist.

Guests posted organically more than 15 times with Patrón tagged and bottles clearly placed throughout.