Alex Bennett Grant Interview(s)
What was the original brief for this campaign?
Desperados is Heineken's 2nd largest global brand. As global lead agency our task since 2015 has been to support global brand growth by uniquely position Desperados as the 'ultimate party starting beer'.
In a few words, tell us about your role in the creation of this work
WE ARE Pi is Desperados global lead creative agency partner, developing all global strategy, the creative platform and annual campaigns. 'Deep House' is one of the big annual 'brand acts' at the centre of our 2018 TTL campaign 'Find Your Dance Floor'. WE ARE Pi developed the concept and led production and activation, supported by partner agencies and production partners. As Pi company founder and CPO (Chief Pirate Officer) I am charged with leading commercial and brand strategy with all our client partners.
What inspired you to approach the campaign in this way?
Two key factors. 1. RELEVANCE - Desperados target consumer are notoriously hard to target and block ads. What they do seek are identity defining party experiences - so we focused on giving them what they want, and wrapping campaigns around that. 2. PENETRATION - Desperados comms was historically schizophrenic year to year, leading to low market uptake of global work and bad working/non-working ratio, stunting penetration. We needed a campaign platform designed to be activated TTL in market, to drive penetration.
How difficult was it to sell the idea to Desperados ?
We sold 'Desperados is a Wild Experiment of beer + tequila' as our creative approach in the global pitch, competing against A&E DDB, AKQA and BBH. To win we not only needed to smash a RELEVANT strategy but also bring a RADICAL solution. Desperados brand team wanted a transformational approach, once they saw it, they loved it. Making it, now THAT was hard.
What was the biggest challenge you faced during the process?
Donald Trump's campaign jet shutting down the airport in Vegas hours before our first big act Bass Drop was pretty challenging. How-to play music in scuba helmets for an underwater rave was pretty challenging for Deep House.
What did you learn from the experience?
We have an incredibly resourceful team of pirates and super brave clients - again!
What’s a “behind the scenes” story that only you know about?
So many! But... What goes deep under water, stays deep under water!
.