Tom Cat is core to the brand and its values, and we wanted to use him as a vehicle to get consumers to interact and become involved with the brand in a fun and relevant way. By reinforcing his personality as witty, fun-loving and socially successful, we could take young drinkers along with us. We simply treated Tom the star of the TV commercial as if he were a real celebrity – and then created that reality around him.Bacardi Breezer sponsored Maxim magazine’s huge Women of the Year Award event, and Tom sat on the panel of judges – the first ever event and sponsorship of its kind. The star of our TV ad was involved fully in the event, surrounded by beautiful girls – which, true to his personality, he lapped up in real Tom Cat style.Our media support package was designed to ensure we “owned” the event, right from the very start. We briefed the creative teams carefully, to ensure each media opportunity reinforced Tom’s fun-loving persona:Our sponsorship started even before the event, with the voting forms in Maxim magazine – branded “Birdtables” with Tom and Breezer very visible.For guests, judges and journalists, Breezer was there at the outset, with the event Invitations branded Bacardi Breezer and Tom’s footprint motif.Attendees sat at “Birdtables”, linking to the “chasing birds” theme of the TV commercial, and covered with Bacardi Breezer Tom Cat visualsWallpaper was a unique and vital part of the sponsorship – we knew that the paparazzi would be everywhere, taking photos of all the celebrities, and branded backdrops would give Breezer a presence in every photo which appeared in the national press“Goodie bags” of takeaways from the event contained fun Tom devices to keep – like the Breezer branded Cat Collar.The post-Awards party was another important photo-opportunity – we ensured that all the judges followed the Tom Cat “pawprints” on the pavement leading from Awards to party venue.We then let the national media, and consumers do the rest – and there was an amazing response….Front page coverage of Tom in the arms of celebrities, in national newspapersA live chatsite on the internet, with a Question & Answer session with Tom, created for us (at their request) by the Sun, the UK’s biggest-selling newspaper.Follow-up coverage in Maxim magazineThey were all media which focus their editorial on celebrities, and Tom’s presence there really gave credibility to his celebrity status – and, by involving consumers in the implicit joke (he is, after all, a cat) really involved them in our campaign for Bacardi Breezer. Our Cognito research highlighted how celebrity is increasingly important to the young consumers targeted by Breezer. We spotted a way to use that interest in celebrity to build Tom Cat’s fame – creating a personality that was witty, cool and absolutely reflected the characteristics of the brand.

We identified how the season’s hottest media property – Maxim’s Women of the Year Awards - could become a platform for Tom to shine. We organised for Tom to join the panel of celebrity judges, confident that Tom (a real cat) could hijack media attention on the day. It’s the kind of event you’d expect celebrity Tom to be involved in… cats are notorious for chasing birds, and a girl-chasing pun has been used in the TV commercial. And, girls like cats – we were confident he’d be cuddled by some of the most glamorous women in the country.We then built a support package of innovative, creative media opportunities which ensured that Tom and Breezer “owned” the event.

Core to the success of the Tom Cat campaign is young consumers’ willingness to join in the joke – we knew that the Maxim audience, and the journalists covering the event, would love to get involved. We generated a huge amount of publicity for a minimal investment, to build our brand more powerfully than simple advertising could - using editorial to involve consumers in our brand’s joke, in a unique way.Our skill was in identifying and exploiting three elements to create a genuine brand event: The campaign took a social trend – the growing appetite for celebrities and celebrity media coverage plus a collaboration with a media owner which was using a new platform to grow its brand – Maxim magazine’s “Women of the Year” event and an imaginative set of never-before seen ambient media opportunities, to create genuine fame for the Breezer brand. More important than simple fame, however, it was a device which genuinely involved consumers; they enjoyed the joke, played along and started to give it a life of its own via chatsites and phone-ins. And the broader media played along, too – we weren’t buying advertising, we were generating priceless editorial coverage.

And, it should be a winner because it has worked – apart from generating media coverage worth hundreds of thousands of euros, it has contributed to a campaign which has resulted in sales growing by 57%.

Our Cognito research highlighted how celebrity is increasingly important to the young consumers targeted by Breezer. We spotted a way to use that interest in celebrity to build Tom Cat’s fame – creating a personality that was witty, cool and absolutely reflected the characteristics of the brand.

We identified how the season’s hottest media property – Maxim’s Women of the Year Awards - could become a platform for Tom to shine. We organised for Tom to join the panel of celebrity judges, confident that Tom (a real cat) could hijack media attention on the day. It’s the kind of event you’d expect celebrity Tom to be involved in… cats are notorious for chasing birds, and a girl-chasing pun has been used in the TV commercial. And, girls like cats – we were confident he’d be cuddled by some of the most glamorous women in the country.We then built a support package of innovative, creative media opportunities which ensured that Tom and Breezer “owned” the event.

Core to the success of the Tom Cat campaign is young consumers’ willingness to join in the joke – we knew that the Maxim audience, and the journalists covering the event, would love to get involved.