BBVA has been sponsoring other territories such as sports and mainly football and NBA and wanted to explore other areas that could generate influence and interest for their Clients and Market and that fitted into the Bank Mission and Vision.

They found it. This was the territory of the Gastronomy, and with El Celler de Can Roca, awarded as the Best restaurant in the world, the joint venture was perfect.

They built up a project that worked very well in terms of PR achievement and that also worked in social responsibility following the real mission of BBVA which is to enable “a better future for people”.

The experience went as follows: the three Roca brothers closed the restaurant in Girona during one month, took 38 people of their team, and went with BBVA’s team to 6 cities (Houston, Dallas, México DF, Monterrey, Bogotá and Lima) to help identify local raw material producers and local flavors, cooking 56 different recipes. They served dinners to 2.900 BBVA customers, clients, key people by market, and prospects.

They also worked in a special selection which is that the Bank offered a scholarship to 2 junior cooks in each market to be trained at El Celler back in Spain.

June 2013 BBVA: sings the agreement with the Roca brothers, before that Josep Roca had made a prospective tour to be sure that the project was feasible.

August 4th 2014 the tour starts in Houston. They make the front page of Forbes: http://prensa.bbva.com/docs/canroca/BBVA_INGLES.pdf

August the 13th, Mexico: They prepare dinners and conferences in Monterrey and Mexico City. Invitation to Clients and local students trained to help prepare the dishes.

August 25, El Celler gest to Colombia: http://www.bbvacellertour.com/en/category/colombia-en

September 1st the Tour gest to Peru and there is a massive audience as there is big news around the Peruvian ingredients and the menus prepared, 2700 Clients and prospects served: http://www.bbvacellertour.com/en/category/peru-en/

September 14th end of the Cooking Tour Experience 2014.

Major success achieved in Local Media, Social Media and in Clients engagement. 13 students selected, and more than 600 local producers re-inspired with the energy, innovation and talent of the Roca brothers.

The experience ran perfectly and obtained great PR impact. Social media growth by 92,8%, reaching a potential audience of 3,500,000 people, news grew 7,2% reaching a potential audience up to 6,868,000 individuals, 2.900 satisfied customers and +50,000 dishes served during the event.

Other media results: Terra Chile (27%), Peru 21 (7%) and PR Newswire USA (3%).