Bacardi-Martini assigns Patrón activation partner

Bacardi-Martini UK has appointed launch marketing agency Five by Five to deliver an on- and off-trade strategy for ultra-premium Tequila brand Patrón.

The Perfectionist’s Competition 2015 finalists

As part of the agreement, Five by Five will devise an activation to drive sales, increase brand engagement and build the brand.

Five by Five designed and implemented The Perfectionist’s Competition, a bartender education initiative which ran in December 2015.

The agency will now build on the success of the initiative with a larger-scale activation for 2016 including a nationwide bartender competition, trade and consumer event presence and branded partnerships across key bars and clubs nationwide.

In line with Patrón’s global partners, Five by Five will deliver the key activity starting in the UK and then rolling out to Europe, Middle East and Africa.

In addition, Patrón will engage with 80,000 AB drinkers in bars and nightclubs across the UK via brand ambassadors, and at key events including Tequila Fest and London Cocktail Week. Five by Five will be responsible for the modular mobile bar elements used throughout.

Steve Bachelor, Patrón brand manager from Barcardi-Martini Ltd, said: “Following our successful 2016 campaign where we achieved 18% year-on-year volume growth across our whole portfolio, we wanted to work with Five by Five again to build on this and achieve a bigger and better Perfectionist campaign for 2016-17.”

Matthew Sykes, director of marketing EMEA at Patrón Spirits International, added: “It’s important that we have a strong UK activation partner for Patrón to help us effectively build the brand in one of the world’s most important drinks markets and spread the message of high quality, mixable, 100% Weber blue agave tequila.”

Earlier this year, Patrón enlisted seven bartenders to create seven different Margaritas in a bid to find the Margarita of the Year 2016.