Earlier this month, Wonderworks team members, Anna and Declan headed to Berlin for Bar Convent Berlin to see the latest and greatest from many (and we mean, many) global drinks brands and hospitality exhibitors.

Stand out exhibitor

Absolut Vodka

From the concept to the people, Absolut rolled out a great brand activation strategy – not necessarily for being the biggest or the most lavish (not that there wasn’t clearly a healthy level of investment) but down to the core focus’ which all exhibitors could stand to take a cue from. So, what worked so well?

Bar takeover – throughout the day, different bartenders from around the world were doing bar shifts for a couple of hours, serving cocktails they’d designed for the event, using different Absolut SKUs. It was a great way to get people trying the (vast) range and to keep people coming back to the stand throughout the day to try more from different bartenders. Our day started with a delightful ‘Future Mary.’ Which very topically speaks to ‘the power of the serve’ – there is nothing more effective than getting a quality serve in front of your audience and boy were there serves, we were taken aback by the full-sized cocktails on offer vs sample sizes, not to mention the quality and creative spark.

Brand roots – the stand concept was the ‘Absolut Barn’, which was all about showcasing the brand’s Swedish roots and how they produce everything with local farmers and all their liquid is distilled at their own distillery in Sweden. From sustainable practices to supporting the local community, the brand’s main aim of the stand was to educate as opposed to pushing a particular new SKU or an overly sales-led agenda. Naturally, it had great brand presence with a prime location in the exhibition hall, in it’s iconic blue.

People – a great brand ambassador cannot be overlooked and Rico Dynan has been with the brand for 9 years. Now the Global Brand Ambassador, Rico is based in Stockholm and has a great online presence (reluctantly, according to him) and a lot of what has become a successful digital approach for the brand is thanks to him spotting a gap in the market for accessible and quick classic recipe videos, of which have racked up impressive viewing numbers. We chatted at length with Rico and he was very generous with his time, talking about everything from the brand to the latest drinks trends.

Noticeable trends

Sustainability

Brands were clearly being mindful of reducing single-use elements in their stands, with a noticeable reduction in printed literature/POS, driving people to digital creative through QR codes instead. It was good to see that quite a few Brands are now B Corp status and BCB itself had a glassware scheme for exhibitors to be able to use actual glassware rather than paper cups.

Low & No

This trend shows no sign of slowing down but through conversations with standalone alcohol-free brands, its clear that there is still a lot of consumer education to be done in the sector with overcoming the price point barrier that a lot of consumers query (i.e. alcohol is not the expensive part of spirits, it’s the production processes). Caleño served us some delicious mojitos using their Light & Zesty spirit as we discussed their focus on giving drinkers easy opportunities to try their spirit through RTDs and mini bundles as well as events, with the aim of driving sales for their full-sized SKUs.

The BCB Low & No bar was done by The Cambridge Public House (a must-go bar if you’re in Paris, not usually low & no!) with a mimic set up of their lovely Parisian bar and a rather elaborate menu, which of course, we tried.

Agave

Agave is certainly coming for Gin’s crown. With an ‘Agave Camp’ and countless agave brands exhibiting, from the little-known to the big names, its clear to see tequila and mezcal are having their time in the sun and with World 50 Best Bar, Barro Negro in residency, the opportunities to try the delightful category were fairly endless at BCB. As with any spirit, creative branding isn’t necessarily a reflection of the spirit itself with brands like Sierra making a big splash with their stand (think large swirling cactus, donning their iconic sombrero) against small craft stands that were fairly innocuous, but most likely, higher quality liquid in their bottle! The learning? Don’t sell your liquid short by undervaluing the power of branding, marketing opportunities and investment.

Gamification

We all love to gin – wait, win? Both! As team member, Declan can testify (with his lovely new silver-plated No.3 Gin cufflinks), drawing people in with a gaming mechanic goes a long way and no one did it better than No.3 Gin at BCB this year. Their whole concept tied perfectly with their brand in a game of ‘unlock to win’ (not the official name I don’t think, but stick with me) with players picking a key (see what they did there) from a selection of drawers under a luxe bottle glorifier and then heading to a bank of lockers, with 3 (again, lovely link) chances to try the key in a locker and win a No.3 prize. Fairly simple but very effective and engaging, not to mention the delicious cocktails they were serving up. Their very welcoming Global BA, Ross, invited us along to a bar takeover happening at Truffle Pig, sponsored by No.3, where Dirty Milano were doing a guest shift. A speakeasy style set-up felt very exclusive (you had to press a fire alarm button for a mirror to open for entry… not nerve wracking at all) with a curated menu of delicious drinks, aptly named Number 1, Number 2 and (you guessed it) Number 3.

As a drinks brand activation agency, we’re always excited to dig into the nuances of activation strategy and learn from the inspiring examples we see. If you have any requirements for your own brand, please don’t hesitate to reach out!