Situation: Desperados, the world’s leading party beer, recognized that in order to maintain leadership, we would need to establish a longer term relationship with our customers - demonstrating that we don’t just sell beer, but we are actually invested in them.

Brief: Desperados' research revealed that 82% of Gen Z dance to break free from the daily grind. However, a cost of living crisis kept them away from the dance floor. How does Desperados, the world’s favourite party beer and sponsor of hundreds of festivals across Europe & Africa get Gen Z dancing again and reconnect with them at the place they love most, the dancefloor?

Objectives:

Develop an ownable experience platform that not only gets people dancing more, but will enable the brand to continue building on it in the future.

Deepen our engagement with our audience in a unique fashion.

Desperados Dance Club: The world’s first dance-powered reward app uses the native step counter on people’s phones to track their dance steps. The more you dance, the more you get. Dance for free beer, event tickets, epic experiences, or raise cash for charities like Stonewall and Woman In Music. Desperados Dance Club unifies the party scene through personalization, gamification, and community.

Native Technology

The native step counter on mobile phones was adapted to count dance steps.

Party spaces were geo-tagged and time stamped, turning clubs, festival sites, bars and even whole islands (Elrow Island) into dance powered currency creators.

At times the app was also 'open-fenced' meaning you could dance anywhere at any time - on the commute, at home, in the shower - to unlock rewards such as tickets to events and beer delivery to fuel e-comm.

Implementation & Placement

Desperados Dance Club was active at 30+ music festivals across Europe & Africa including Primavera, Lollapalooza, Mysteryland, Amsterdam Dance Event, Extrema Outdoor, Elrow Island, Elrow Town and Elrow Global. Desperados Dance Club was also active outside of events, enabling people to dance to win tickets to the events featured.

Brand Relevance

Desperados is a mix of beer & tequila.

The campaign idea was 'Pour some unusual on your usual" - the usual is the beer, the unusual is the tequila.

This activation idea was 'Pour Some unusual on your party' - the usual is the dancing, the unusual is being rewarded for dancing.

Channel Approach

Our multi channel approach drove brand loyalty at various touch points. At house parties you can dance for beer deliveries, boosting off trade and ecomm. At bars, clubs and festivals Desperados Dance Club was a magnet for our speciality stages and events, rewarding participation with exclusive rewards such as after party tickets, VIP tickets, merchandise and free beer - fueling on trade in the process.

The campaign achieved our objective of getting more youth to dance while also deepening our relationship and engagement with our target. More importantly, however, it is the beginning of a sustained relationship with our customers where we don’t just sell beer, but enable them to do what they love most - party.

60 Million dance steps counted.

58 Million media impressions.

83% Average engagement rate.

30+ Global & local events.