Make the Most Of Your Holidays with Malibu's A-Z of Summer

Malibu is launching the ‘Best Summer Ever Project’ 2015 as it looks to build on the success of the 2014 global marketing campaign.

Embodying the brand’s global digital marketing tagline to ‘Make it the Best Summer Ever’, Malibu will partner with young social influencers to create an exciting and inspirational A to Z guide to summer.  

Created by AnalogFolk, the ‘Best Summer Ever Project’ will follow four young, creative YouTubers as they travel the world together, uncovering the ingredients that go into the perfect summer. These fun-loving explorers will tour Europe and the US, throwing themselves into experiences with the aim of offering their fans real and inspiring pieces of advice. Amongst lots of other adventures, they’ll head to a BBQ festival in America’s Deep South to discover how to cook the perfect barbecue and visit the Isle of Wight festival to learn the secrets to surviving festival season. 

The brand is looking to ramp up efforts on the content-led initiative, which over a six week period during the summer of 2014 produced 33 million impressions, 10 million YouTube channel views and in the first week alone witnessed a 275% uplift in subscribers to the channel. In total there were over 200 pieces of original content and more than 30 videos on the Malibu YouTube channel. Specifically in the UK, sales volume of Malibu Original grew by 6.9% in the period June – September 2014 (versus the same period in 2013.

Developing the format from last year, the campaign will be even more inclusive for the audience, offering greater opportunities for them to engage with the YouTubers across owned channels. The series will also feature a number of other high profile social influencers who will use their own skills and expertise to help the cast and viewers have the best summer ever.

A launch trailer for the series, ‘The A to Z of Summer’, aims to drive subscriptions to Malibu’s YouTube channel. Throughout the summer, over an eight week period, there will then be regular episodes hosted on YouTube and a new Malibu website. This site, which has also been created by AnalogFolk, will feature additional content from the journey, including editorial. 

Content for the Best Summer Ever Project 2015 will be shared across Malibu’s social channels (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest), as well as outreach amongst influencers and bloggers. It will also be promoted via online advertising and a media partnership with Mashable, allowing the brand to tap into a new audience and build reach with an influential platform and readership.

The digital and social media-focused content campaign for Malibu is open to participation from consumers who are of legal drinking age. The campaign will run in Malibu’s key markets, which includes the UK, US, Netherlands and Germany. As part of overall campaign local markets will be able to customise digital content, incorporating any promotional components, such as building on specific executions with bespoke events. 

Joanna Alexander, Marketing Manager, Pernod Ricard UK comments: “UK consumers can experience an incredible summer with Malibu instantly winning epic summer prizes such as trips Ibiza Rocks & Bestival on our best summer ever competition hub. We’ve also extended availability of our popular real coconut cup drinking vessels, which consumers can purchase in stores across the country from this month. The campaign will be rounded off with out of home advertising and digital amplification.”

Vizeum is responsible for global media planning and buying, with Across The Pond handling the film production of the project.

Emma Johansson, Global Content Director at Malibu, said: ‘Building on the 2014 activity, this year is about being even more inclusive and using the significant marketing investment to extend the reach of our content through social influencers and key partnerships.’

Simon Richings, Executive Creative Director at AnalogFolk London, added: ‘This year the Best Summer Ever Project is a essentially a how to guide to having the best summer of your life, delivered and directed by a team of real YouTubers. Malibu understands that the best way to be authentic in this space is to let a team representative of its audience call the shots.’