Summer tends to be the go-to season for spirit brands to kick off new campaigns and launch new products, which leads to an uptick in brand events and activations throughout the season. This summer, brands took the opportunity to stage new events, revamp annual or continuous events, or launch traveling series. Here are some of the event design, activity, photo booth, and catering style highlights from brands such as Bacardi, Jose Cuervo, St-Germain, Aperol, and Cointreau.
Absolut celebrated its red, white, and blue limited-edition bottle with an event on July 19 at Hudson Mercantile in New York. Guests were invited to pose in a 20-foot cocktail glass, which was built in front of a billboard featuring the vodka brand’s bottle and promotional campaign. The event was produced by MKG.
The event featured numerous Instagram-friendly moments, including a neon bottle-shape event entrance. For every photo posted using the hashtags #AbsolutAmerica and #Promotion, the brand donated to Keep America Beautiful, a community improvement nonprofit organization.
Bacardi celebrated the first day of summer with its Sound of Rum kick-off event with Major Laser, which celebrated the music of the Caribbean islands and featured rum cocktails and on-theme installations by local artists. The event, which was produced by Mosaic, displayed a fresh fruit stand with Bacardi branding, inspired by Caribbean street markets. The event took place at Hubbard’s Cave in Chicago.
Guests could pose in front of a neon sign that displayed the rum brand’s bat logo.
Cocktails were served in coconuts branded with the name of the event.
Italian aperitif Aperol hosted an event celebrating the first day of summer in June at Bocce restaurant at Union Square Pavilion in New York. Attendees could play bocce ball on an orange court. The event was produced by Swell.
One of the main pieces of event decor was an orange hashtag sign.
A reflective structure adorned with orange florals provided guests with an Instagram-worthy photo op.
Additional decor included a reflective wall decorated with hanging bottles of the liqueur and giant bouquets of orange flowers.
Signature cocktails were served from a mini orange truck.
Throughout the summer, Jose Cuervo Tradicional celebrated its connection to the surfing community with beach-inspired “shacks” that popped up at food festivals in the Southeast. The activations, which were produced by Abel & McCallister & Abel, featured porches decorated with branded surfboards.
Inside, the pop-ups featured California beachfront backdrops, a gallery of imagery from surfing competitions, and a bar that served Jose Cuervo’s Palomas cocktails. The activations also had a boomerang photo op and a charging station embedded into a surfboard.
For National Tequila Day on July 24, Jose Cuervo launched a promotion celebrating George Washington. Passersby at National Harbor in Washington could pose for photos with living statues of former presidents, in front of a deconstructed American flag. At participating bars across the country, guests could get a tequila shot in exchange for a dollar bill. Jose Cuervo also worked with Abel & McCallister & Abel for the promotional event.
Elderflower liqueur brand St-Germain held its second annual summer soiree July 10 at Little Beach House Malibu. The event’s step-and-repeat showcased a marquee sign against a wall of tropical greenery, flanked by two fabricated palm trees with disco ball “coconuts.” Kate Young served as the event’s host and creative director.
The event featured a photo-worthy floral tunnel created by floral designer Jeff Leatham.
Cocktails were served with stirrers that featured the brand’s logo in teal.
Production designer Marla Weinhoff created a tattoo parlor where guests could get botanical-theme temporary tattoos.
Weinhoff also created 1,000 LED “flowers,” meant to resemble the 1,000 elderflowers used in every bottle of St-Germain.
Custom fabrication studio and graphic design agency Nine & Eye created multi-color rooftop reflection flowers.
The Botanist, a gin brand made in Islay, Scotland, held a cocktail event in June at Bouley Botanical in New York. Guests were coached to choose their flavor profile and forage for their own herbs to make cocktails.
The event, which was designed in house, had a step-and-repeat that displayed a hashtag sign of the brand’s name in red, against a wall of herbs and red florals.
The lifestyle website Goop partnered with orange liqueur brand Cointreau to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the brand’s margarita with a cocktail event in the Hamptons in July. The event served classic margaritas in glasses that featured illustrations of orange leaves.
Margaritas were served from a branded airstream trailer. Shiraz Creative handled design and production as well as catering, staffing, and venue scouting.
Orange trees were incorporated into the event’s outdoor setting.
Malibu rum partnered with alcoholic ice cream brand Tipsy Scoop to launch a limited-edition flavor, the Swirl, which consists of strawberry and piña colada ice cream infused with Malibu. The ice cream is served in a coconut and garnished with Hawaiian faux florals, gummy candies, and a flag with the names of the two brands. The flavor launched in August and will be available through Labor Day at Tipsy Scoop’s New York shop.
Vodka brand Belvedere launched two vodkas, Smogory Forest and Lake Bartezek—each named for their origin—in June at the Greenpoint Loft, as part of Bar Convent Brooklyn. The launch party, which was produced by Jack Morton Worldwide, featured a multi-sensory forest installation inspired by the Smogory region in Poland. B Floral handled the event's floral design.
