To be honest, most launches are rather boring, that’s why you don’t see me talk about them a lot. I’ll share what happens on social media but most of them have the same copy and paste template.
If you don’t know the template, then it’s simple. We all arrive, usually celebrities, influencers and media. Followed by that, there is a DJ playing everything you could hear on radio, so to make it clear it’s not a concert. Then we gather in little cliques, talking amongst each other about anything except why we are all really here. From there on, the brand manager gets their 15 minutes of fame, mumbling whatever and nobody remembers what they actually said. Then there is free food, drinks and we continue socialising until we leave. – Done. Now you know.
So why would I talk about Strongbow’s Apple Cider launch, even better yet, why would I attend. Well, Strongbow had a nice ad when they first launched way back and all the banners they had around the city made me wonder why they would invest so much into a launch. Another factor was that it was in Neighbourgoods Market and as popular as the place is, it’s really tricky launching something there because it’s a bit intrusive, you also cut of a lot people when you create a section just for a brand.
So, honestly, why attend, it’s a bad concept with a bad area for the concept. Still found myself there though, honestly, it started out a bit cliché, the only interesting bit was there wasn’t as much media and celebrities. They also didn’t cut off people who usually go to Neighbourgoods. In an odd twist of things, they were included in the festivities, especially when Strongbow released these origami butterflies into the crowd, which we could all trade in for drinks. To add onto that, there was no cut off section, so we could just hang out, whether you had a tag or not.
.@StrongbowSA #NatureRemix pic.twitter.com/8hwt4xnXbf
— Yule (@YuleD) September 17, 2016
Now, of course yes, that’s pretty cool but not so amazing. Well, later those of us with tags would be sent upstairs, where there was a section just for us but okay, I guess you are thinking, the cliché bit kicks in, true, it didn’t. Something was announced, I missed that but the line-up of for entertainment was really good, like you could easily mistake it for a proper concert. The food was delicious, not those irritating finger foods we usually get served. I’ve also never been to the rooftop of that and the view from there was amazing. It was somewhat like those ads we see on TV, where people are on a rooftop, laughing and having a good time, accept this time, it was genuine.
I’ve never really tasted Strongbow before this, so to me, it was a good taste for a cider. Rather enjoyed it. Cider isn’t my first choice in alcohol but now, if I was to start drinking ciders, Strongbow might be my first choice. The apple flavour goes down well. `
.@StrongbowSA @Trancemicsoul #NatureRemix pic.twitter.com/nv99EHawlH
— Yule (@YuleD) September 17, 2016