Desperados is hosting a series of parties that will be live streamed from famous locations in Spain as the Heineken-owned lager brand shifts its marketing strategy towards a digital-first approach.
"Basically for us, the need is still the same: it’s about connecting with consumers and experiences, but how we do that is now different," Diederik Vos, global brand director at Desperados, said. "The events are not in real life any more; they’ve become virtual. We are merging our digital efforts with our experiential efforts."
The brand has teamed up with Elrow once again to host the events, which aim to connect partygoers across its social channels. The campaign signifies the merging of the Desperados digital and experiential strategies in an effort to be where its consumers are.
The first event takes place in Barcelona at the Casa Batlló, a Unesco world heritage site, on 24 May. The building's architecture is reflected in the show’s theme and characters. Inside the decorated venue, DJs, acrobatics and performers will make appearances from a safe distance. The line-up includes Paco Osuna, De La Swing and Tini Gessler. Partygoers can also take part in interactive games from home.
This latest announcement follows Elrow and Desperados' "Home sessions", in which DJs were live streamed from their homes during April and May. The brand’s commitment to experimentation meant it was among the early adopters of virtual events during the pandemic and enabled it to hone its delivery.
Vos continued: "Our brand was created from an experiment, so we try to keep that in everything we do. That mindset has also helped us to embark on this very early on. We said to each other: the first time doesn’t have to be perfect, but let’s learn and try. We now have the benefit of doing this for two months and being able to make every show a little bit better."
Existing commitments to a number of events mean that Desperados will be activating IRL when that is possible, but the brand also envisages staying committed to virtual events beyond the reinstatement of physical experiences.
Vos added: "What we will be doing more than the past is accelerating our presence and support in the virtual experiential space and virtual experiential will definitely increase."
