Bounty Rum has been at Notting Hill Carnival for three years. In 2024 Mangrove set out to make it unmissable.
The background
As distributor for Saint Lucia’s favourite spirit, Bounty Rum, Mangrove’s Team Purple have been working hard to increase awareness of this Caribbean national treasure, here in the UK.
Bounty Rum is synonymous with the island of Saint Lucia; it’s a symbol of letting loose and feeling good – bold in both brand and flavour, much like the Bounty rum shacks that punctuate Saint Lucia’s luscious green island. After a year of national activations and awareness building (national boozy dominos competition or Bounty themed party on a canal boat anyone?) what better way to celebrate, than putting Bounty at the heart of Notting Hill Carnival 2024.
The concept
Notting Hill Carnival is a feast for the senses; colours, smells, sights, sounds – all fuelled by a tremendous party atmosphere. It’s a celebration of Caribbean culture, and Bounty has taken part in carnival for three years running – but using key learnings from previous years, Mangrove wanted 2024 to be bigger and better than ever.
Representing the island of Saint Lucia, Bounty sponsored two carnival floats, adorned in the spirit’s signature colours of yellow and red. Aboard the float were Masquerade 2000 team (M2K) serving up drinks and playing the authentic sounds of Saint Lucia – which had the revellers behind the float dancing through the streets. We also ensured Bounty was being poured at bars along the route, including hero venues like the Portobello Star, Cotton’s, The Hayden, Parlour and – the home of rum – Trailer Happiness. For those who couldn’t get to London, bars across the UK were pouring a signature Bounty serve to bring the party-spirit, nationwide for Carnival weekend.
Alongside the parades themselves, to rev up party-goers we planned pre- and post-carnival Soca parties, where Bounty rum punch fuelled the atmosphere and Soca music provided a calypso soundtrack. Across the course of the festivities, all guests and revellers had the chance to win a trip to Saint Lucia itself, by scanning the QR code on the side of the carnival float and across other materials.
The finer detail
The Carnival
We partnered with the UK’s biggest Saint Lucian Mas Band, M2KMAS, to deliver the Parade experience. Revellers purchased costume bundles, some in the super-elaborate Caribbean style, and followed the Bounty parade cars through the streets of Notting Hill. The theme for costumes was ‘The Mythicals’ creatures, and those who purchased a costume package had the opportunity to join the parade itself and be topped up with unlimited tipple and tasty bites from the Bounty floats.
Pre- and post-carnival parties
To support and promote the activity taking place across Carnival weekend, we arranged a number of parties to help revellers get into the Carnival spirit.
We worked with Coldr PR to host a Carnival prep party, specifically for London’s Saint Lucian community. Guests who joined us enjoyed primping in the form of hair, makeup, and nail decorations, accompanied by a Bounty tipple of course. We also hosted a number of Soca parties, where DJs and Soca music brought the Carnival atmosphere to the masses, all fuelled by Bounty. From start to finish Coldr helped us to leverage these events to raise awareness of Bounty – especially amongst the Saint Lucian community who we were particularly keen to engaGE.
On-trade collaboration
Not all those who attend Carnival are up for revelling in full costume – and for those who still want to enjoy the atmosphere, Notting Hill’s bars are the place to find tasty, themed tipple. We engaged with over 30 [AG1.1][AG1.2]bars, including Cotton’s, The Beachcomber, Parlour, The Hayden, and Trailer Happiness, to serve up delicious Bounty cocktails. And with other spirits brands participating in Carnival, we knew we had to get boots on the ground to secure the best of the on-trade.
Team Purple worked hard with partners existing and new to ensure Carnival-goers could find Bounty at various points along the route. We also worked with wholesaler Booker to extend awareness and enable independent venues to purchase Bounty without fuss or the complication of opening an account with us!
The Bounty competition
In partnership with the Saint Lucian Tourism Authority, we ran a competition for the weekend’s festivities – the main prize being a trip for two to Saint Lucia, complete with a tour of Bounty’s distillery. Not only did this enable us to capture email addresses and continue to market to those who enjoyed Bounty’s Carnival celebrations, but also another element to engage attendees of the various planned events.
Previous activations
The activity across Notting Hill Carnival built upon a year filled with exciting activations for Bounty.
The first was a nationwide dominos tournament, targeting the on-trade – with the first prize being a trip to Saint Lucia. Heats took place in Glasgow, Manchester, and London with the grand final taking place at Dalston Rooftop. The tournament was supported by Chef and influencer, SavJointz, as well as the Saint Lucian Association of London 1963.
The second activation was a takeover of Number 90 Bar & Kitchen, where guests and customers could step into a Bounty-fueled, Saint Lucian experience with fresh beats delivered by DJ Lightening. £1 of every cocktail bought was donated to the Saint Lucian Association of London 1963, an organisation which acts a convener on issues that effect Saint Lucian citizens based here in the UK.
Over the course of these events, we’ve built up a loyal following of consumers and a great relationship with the Saint Lucian community, and this set us up for the successful turn out that was achieved with our work at Notting Hill Carnival.
The results
As well as increased awareness of Bounty, nationwide, we scored almost three times as many revellers on the road compared to previous years at Carnival and strengthened our bond with London’s Saint Lucian community.
Since Carnival, we’ve also seen an increase in sales across all channels – on-trade, off-trade, wholesale, and direct to consumer, which is testament to the success of this fabulous activation!
Aside from these successes, we’ve also found ourselves the most fantastic partners in M2KMAS Band, the Saint Lucian Association of London (1963) and the Saint Lucian Tourism Authority.
What’s next
We want to continue working with our fabulous partners to drive more awareness of Bounty, not just in London, but across the whole of the UK. While we can’t announce our upcoming plans just yet, we expect that they will definitely involve dominos, Soca beats, and Bounty’s delicious spirits to bring the party atmosphere to rum-lovers all over the country.
