Campari Group — in partnership with connected experience agency SharpEnd — has won five different global design, experience and marketing awards for its Fly Campari Group Virtual Stand, launched during the inaugural Moodie Davitt Virtual Travel Retail Expo last year.
The disruptive digital concept adopted a radical approach to delivering a fully immersive and engaging brand experience. The experience was designed around the company’s ‘The Campari Way’ ethos and blended professional elements with warm and friendly user-engagement.
“The impact was staggering… we were able to demonstrate new innovative ways to connect with a more digitally aware customer base whilst maintaining true brand tone of voice”
Highlights included landing a virtual jet in the exhibition hall and taking Expo attendees on a flight around the world to visit the homes of Aperol, The Glen Grant and Wild Turkey through experiential 360-degree environments.
Onboard the private jets, Expo visitors were served pre-flight cocktails that matched their choice of destination. Passengers could travel to Venice, the home of Aperol; Kentucky the home of Wild Turkey; or Speyside which is the birthplace of The Glen Grant.
Each environment was filled with interactive touchpoints that invited visitors to learn more about each brand.
Visitors had their virtual passports stamped and could either embark on another journey to visit the next destination or return to the Fly Campari Lounge and speak to a brand representative. The experience also offered live cocktail-making masterclasses led by Campari Group Global Brand Ambassador Davide Fornasiero.
The Fly Campari Group concept was recognised by a diverse and internationally-renowned group of awarding bodies from the fields of marketing, design, events and experiences. The concept was named the winner of Best Marketing Campaign from the Management Today Business Awards and won the Virtual & Hybrid Brand Activation Award (VEI).
It also won the Bronze Award for Exhibition Experience at the Campaign Experience Awards; the Platinum Award for ‘Best Pivot to Virtual’ from the World Exhibition Stand Awards; and the Silver prize for Virtual Experiences in the Alcoholic Beverages category from the EventEx Awards.
Campari Group and SharpEnd were also named as finalists in the Campaign Tech Awards for the Best use of experiential technology and at the Campaign Experience Awards in the Virtual Experience B2B category.
As a testament to the success of the concept, Fly Campari Group was the most visited Virtual Stand at the Moodie Davitt Virtual Travel Retail Expo last year across all categories. 50% of visitors also returned to further explore other elements of the stand.
“No-one expected us to decide against a traditional exhibition stand, let alone replace it with a virtual private jet experience and whisk customers away to three different brand destinations,” commented Campari Group Global Travel Retail Marketing Director Biancamaria Sansone.
“The impact was staggering and with the technical expertise of SharpEnd onboard, we were able to demonstrate new innovative ways to connect with a more digitally aware customer base whilst maintaining true brand tone of voice.”
Campari Group Global Brand Manager Jennifer Smith added, “The team at SharpEnd were fantastic from initial concept through to superb execution and technical support. They helped us to reimagine the trade fair experience with a virtual brand activation that wowed our target audience.”
“In times of change it paves the way for new creativity,” added SharpEnd Founder and CEO Cameron Worth. “We were trusted by an amazing client to deliver something truly memorable and I’m very proud our solutions delivered so much success to Campari Group. As more events go online, we hope that our approach will be adopted as an industry standard to make things more interactive and insightful.”
Note: Stay tuned for an exclusive interview with Campari Group Global Travel Retail Marketing Director Biancamaria Sansone, Campari Group Global Brand Manager Jennifer Smith and SharpEnd Client Lead Eddy Peters about how they brought Fly Campari Group concept to life and how their partnership gave Virtual Travel Retail Expo attendees wings when real life travel was impossible.
In the lead-up to the Virtual Travel Retail Expo, we will also be profiling some of the other stand-out work from the 2020 event, including that of digital and design agency FILTR.QINGWA, The Moodie Davitt Report’s stand curation partner.
The second edition of the global travel retail channel’s largest virtual trade event runs from 11-15 October 2021, followed by a six-week complimentary ‘encore’ access for exhibitors and visitors. More information and registration details can be found at www.virtualtrexpo.com. Due to heavy demand, the deadline for booking a virtual stand is Monday 16 August. Please contact Irene Revilla at Irene@MoodieDavittReport.com and sarah@moodiedavittreporfort.com for more details. Each exhibitor has their own individual account manager from FILTR.QINGWA to offer comprehensive assistance in the virtual stand design, build and merchandising.
