BACARDI rum has an incredible story to tell surviving fire, earthquakes and exile. They wanted to tell this story to an audience of global influencers – and the digital generation. But how?

We knew where to find this audience. And we knew they were increasingly passionate about graphic novels – so we hand picked two of the biggest names in the industry to create a stunning graphic novel. A limited number of printed editions were sent to global influencers and the novel was made available online and via social media. We also partnered with global youth focused online media platform Vice, to create the world’s first graphic novel which could be read across the web, delivering a unique experience designed specifically for the digital generation.

Ahead of launch we partnered with Vice and split the story into 30 sections, giving each section to different bloggers across the US, Mexico, UK, and Germany. Then (here’s the clever bit) we worked with individual publishers to hyperlink the panels. Clicking panel one took you to panel two on a different blog and so on. Publishers weren’t keen to direct traffic to rival sites, but once we explained the concept, they were keen to be a part of this digital and global media first.

Supported by actually-very-good film content we coordinated a global media push to men’s, lifestyle, drinks and tech press. Our reward was hundreds of news articles including Wired, Mashable, Digital Spy, Stuff, and Interview. A hub on BACARDI.com acted as the home for the digital graphic novel.

For media, bloggers, and influencers we created a limited print run of 2,000 print copies.

Universally positive news of the graphic novel reached 640 million men aged 21-29 from the US, UK, Mexico, Russia, Germany, India, Spain, Benelux and DACH Nordics

• Achieved Twitter reach of 5.2 million with a strong male bias of 72%

• It got the marketing industry excited about the work of a PR agency...

Charles Vallance, founder VCCP: “The characters involved are intriguing and the graphic novel looks marvelous”

Agency Blog: “Bacardi has taken brand storytelling to the next level”

Ad Week: “It's an interesting twist on telling your company's story without relying on the traditional cinematic, intricately costumed 60-second ad.”