Malibu gets Kiwis and Aussies to do whatever tastes good in summer campaign via DARKHORSE

To bring Malibu’s refreshed brand direction to life, leading integrated brand experience, PR and social agency DARKHORSE created a multi-layered campaign which ensured Pernod Ricard’s Malibu portfolio was unmissable over summer.

Globally Malibu has repositioned its new brand platform to ‘Do Whatever Tastes Good’, targeting Gen Z audiences to unplug, have fun and live in the moment.

This new direction, anchored in the ‘Welcome to Malibu’ media campaign, was amplified with activity including large scale brand activations at Laneway Brisbane, Laneway Auckland and Rhythm & Vines, paid partnerships with two New Zealand content creators, a bespoke send out in partnership with July suitcases, as well as a media drop to the two main media houses in New Zealand.

Says Rachael Crosby, head of strategy and creativity at DARKHORSE: “The brief had several layers and we knew there were several key touchpoints we had to hit for this activity. While the results are extensive across the campaign, some of the teams’ favourites include nearly doubling the sales volume of Malibu vs 2023 figures, just shy of 3000 pieces of merch given out across all festivals, and over 300,000 social reach via the influencer send out.”

Additionally, the full campaign across ANZ generated a 22% increase to the Malibu Australia database and delivered 270% of the KPI, more than any previous Pernod Ricard campaign completed by the DARKHORSE team.

Another win for Malibu was seeing headliner Dominic Fike wearing the bespoke Malibu branded merch on stage.

Says Kristy Rutherford, marketing director, Pernod Ricard: “Seeing a headline act in Malibu merchandise highlights the power of the Malibu brand being the right offer at the right time for the right audience.” With 21,400 attendees at Laneway Brisbane plus the volume of videos on TikTok post-event, the reach from this one piece of merchandise was huge for the brand.

DARKHORSE continues to work with Pernod Ricard as Malibu’s ANZ lead creative agency and remaining as Malfy Gin’s lead creative agency for Australia and New Zealand as well.

Pernod Ricard ANZ
Brand Manager: Josh Inbari
Senior Brand Manager: Liam O’Connell

DARKHORSE ANZ:
Head of Strategy & Creative: Rachael Crosby
Event Director: Penny Thomas
Senior Experiential Producer: Sofie Koers
Executive Event Producer: Amber Manuell
Communications Group Account Director: Nicole Haysom
Communications Account Director: Morgan Manson
Senior Social Media Account Director: Libby Angus