OCTOBER | BIGGER PICTURE
Bow selector
Strongbow’s festival experience, The Strongbow Yard,
supported by independent creative agency, Initials was
visited by more than 100,000 people at festivals across
the UK.
The Strongbow Yard which features a ten metre high
archer as the centrepiece debuted at the Isle of Wight
festival in June before moving onto Kendal Calling and
Victorious.
Bringing together all three ciders in the family,
Strongbow Original, Strongbow Dark Fruit and
Strongbow Cloudy Apple, the area which is a landmark at
all three festivals, also included pyrotechnic displays and
DJs. For the first time, the ‘Refreshing People Live’ stage
featured a piano duo taking requests from the crowd.
Bas Bakker, Strongbow marketing manager at
Heineken UK, says: “Strongbow stands for bringing
together people from all walks of life and we have a long
history of doing exactly that at festivals. This summer
we’re bringing the Strongbow Yard and its eye-catching
archer back to three major UK festivals and we can’t wait
to welcome festival goers with the usual mix of ice-cold
Strongbow ciders and top-class DJs. On top of that, we’ll
be introducing ‘Refreshing People Live’ which promises to
be a true highlight where festival-goers can request and
sing-a-long to their favourite festival anthems.”
The activation was created in partnership with
Initials – its head of experiential, Rachel Bateman
says: “Experiential has unparalleled potential to drive
interest and involvement, strengthen or re-shape brand
perceptions and create trust. Having worked with
Strongbow for a number of years we know how important
the festival season is to the brand, and how the brand
experience needs to come across in this setting. Festivals
are all about creating spontaneous memories, this aligns
perfectly with Strongbow’s ethos – allowing the brand to
engage authentically with festival audiences.”
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