Beautifully shot over nine days by award-winning director Isabel Coixet, the ‘elBulli’ clip stars upcoming Spanish actress, Elena Anaya and elBulli’s master of gastronomy and internationally renowned chef, Ferran Adrià. An edited 90-second version of the clip will appear across cinemas across the UK in August and forms part of UK distributor Wells & Young’s latest marketing campaign for the brand.

The legendary Spanish restaurant, which closes its doors on July 30 this year, features as the backdrop to the 3-minute clip. The script for ‘elBulli’ follows four young chefs in training at the legendary restaurant during an idyllic summer – the restaurant’s training academy is internationally renowned. It has the remarkable record of having former trainees featuring in 7 of the top 10 restaurants featured in ‘The World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards 2011’.

The clip soundtrack features “I Wish That I Could See You Soon” by US duo Herman Dune.

Estrella Damm’s previous films have become cult feel-good hits, racking up more than 2.5 million views on YouTube. Whilst UK cinemagoers will have to wait until August to see the edited clip, the full-length version is available to view here.

Available in the UK since 2007, Estrella Damm is available in bars and pubs across the UK and is growing internationally. Positioned in the UK as ‘The Beer of Barcelona’ and a perfect accompaniment to pioneering gastronomy, Wells & Young’s latest brand campaign also features experiential activity with the brand sponsoring the Taste of London food and drink festival in London’s Regent’s Park from 16 – 19th June. Visitors to the Estrella Damm stand will enjoy a selection of tapas created exclusively for the event by the Spanish chef Omar Allibhoy.

The agency has been charged with building Estrella Damm’s tradition links with pioneering gastronomy, positioning the brand alongside innovative Spanish food.

The campaign will focus on the sponsorship of Taste of London, the capital’s four-day festival of fine food, drink and entertainment in Regent’s Park. Top tapas chef Omar Ollibhoy of innovative new restaurant Tapas Revolution will host a series of ‘Estrella Damm Beer & Tapas Masterclasses’ at the event, showcasing the beer’s role as a perfect accompaniment to contemporary Spanish food.

Joanna Dring, PR Manager for Wells and Young’s said: “Estrella Damm is stylish, trendy and vibrant. It’s Spain’s leading premium beer brand, enjoyed in Britain by discerning consumers who are passionate about great food and drink. We’re looking forward to Boom! communicating the brands personality to a wider UK audience this Summer.”

“We’re delighted to have been appointed to promote Estrella Damm. It’s a premium brand with such an evocative personality – we’re looking forward to encouraging sophisticated UK consumers to experience the taste of ‘The Beer of Barcelona’.” said Justin Crosby, Boom!’s founder.

75% calling for greater celebration of St George’s Day

…but only 12% plan to fly the flag of St George and 46% haven’t made any plans to celebrate

A new study published today in the run up to St George’s Day has revealed the English are proud of their country but are ‘closet patriots’ and feel shy when it comes to celebrating their national pride.

The poll shows that while most English people are calling for a wider acceptance and recognition of St George’s Day, a similar number are shying away from the more conspicuous forms of celebration.

The survey of 2000 English adults carried out by Bombardier beer found that three quarters of those polled (75%) think that more should be done to celebrate St George’s Day. Of these, 76% would like a Bank Holiday and 64% would like to see the English embrace our national day as the Irish do for St Patrick’s Day.

Just under half (48%) would like to see people proudly flying the English flag on St George’s Day, as they would for the football World Cup, but only 12% say they will.

Whilst 83% say they feel proud to be English, 46% say they haven’t yet made any plans to celebrate – even though St George’s Day falls on a Saturday this year.

Commenting on the survey, Kate Fox, social anthropologist and bestselling author of ‘Watching the English: The hidden rules of English behaviour’ said, “The contradictions revealed by the survey are typical of what I call English Eeyorishness – we feel proud to be English, but we are mostly too apathetic and perhaps too cynical to make a big gushy patriotic fuss about it. It’s a typical English trait – we want more to be done but we feel shy to actually do anything! The survey shows people want to mark the occasion, but perhaps don’t know how.
Even those who do plan to celebrate St George’s Day will do so in a typically English way: not with pompous parades, sentimental speeches or fervent flag-waving, but with a pint of beer in their local pub.”

Other highlights of the survey include:

• The English qualities that we feel most proud of are our sense of humour (34%) and our sense of fair play (22%) followed by our reputation for courtesy (14%) and tolerance (9%)

• A well-crafted English pint of beer (22%) was voted at the perfect drink to celebrate St George’s Day and the Royal Wedding, followed by a glass of wine (21%) and a cup of tea (13%)

• Next year’s Olympic celebrations (28%) followed closely by the forthcoming Royal Wedding (27%) and last year’s Ashes heroics (26%) were voted the events that are a source of English pride

England’s most patriotic regions;

1. South East
2. West Midlands
3. North West
4. East Midlands
5. Yorkshire & the Humber
6. South West/ North East
7. East Anglia
8. London

“This year’s St George’s Day, combined with the Royal Wedding has created a patriotic perfect storm for the pub and brewing industries. Never before have we had St George’s Day, a Royal Wedding and two long weekends combining to create eleven days of celebration. It’s what we call the Great English Knees Up! And what better way to celebrate this typically English occasion than in a proper English pub. If there is ever a better time to show our pride for our country, it’s now.” said Chris Lewis of Bombardier’s brewers Wells & Young’s.

The brewer is expecting to sell over two million pints of beer and is supplying over 5,000 pubs across the UK with thousands of St George’s flags, streamers and enough bunting to decorate the route from Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle – and back again.

Wells & Young’s has appointed Boom! to raise the brand’s profile in the run up to St George’s Day and the Royal Wedding as it seeks to build its association with all things English and reinforce its positioning as the ‘Drink of England’.

The campaign, entitled the Great English Knees Up, will run alongside Bombardier’s in-pub activity that has the same theme.

The period from 22nd April to 2nd May sees four bank holidays and two weekends over just eleven days, promising a much needed boost to the UK pub and brewing industries as the UK celebrates Easter, St George’s Day, the Royal Wedding and May Day.

Joanna Dring, PR Manager for Wells and Young’s said: “We’re really excited about this period, which we’re calling the ‘Great English Knees Up.’ Bombardier has helped to grow St George’s Day which is already one of the busiest days in the pub calendar and this April pubs are in for a bumper week and a half. We were impressed by Boom!’s ideas to help amplify the Great English Knees Up to consumers and build on the excitement around this unique event.”

“A patriotic perfect storm is set to take place in late April with St George’s Day and the Royal Wedding taking place over an extended holiday period. We’re looking forward to helping the nation celebrate the occasion with Bombardier – one of the truly iconic English brands.” said Justin Crosby, Boom!’s founder.

Campaign

Courage conversations

Client

Wells & Young’s

Timescale

July/ August 2010

Overview

Following a period of brand inactivity, UK brewer Wells and Young’s wanted to raise the profile of one it’s iconic ale brands, Courage.

UK PR manager Joanna Dring appointed us to lead the campaign.

Objectives

• Reconnect and deepen relationship with existing Courage consumers
• Realign perceptions of the Courage brand with potential consumers
• Support struggling pub industry

Strategy & plan

Our strategy focused on promoting the brand’s 200 year heritage and role as a trusted companion at the heart of Great British pub conversations. Following our planning process wey defined the brand’s role as a conversation catalyst in the Great British pub.

The agency commissioned a consumer survey on behalf of the brand, investigating the topics, frequency and nature of British pub conversations. They enlisted the help of Oxford philosopher, historian and conversations expert Theodore Zeldin CBE to comment and interpret the resulting data.

The results were regionalized to highlight the regional differences in pub conversations and sold in to national and regional print and broadcast media and influential beer blog communities.

Key findings were the Great British pub was namedas the best location outside the home for quality conversations and Geordies were revealed as the UK’s biggest talkers, holding the highest number of daily conversations.

We also created a Courage Facebook page

Measurement and evaluation

The campaign generated coverage in the Daily Telegraph, Daily Express, Daily Mirror, Daily Star and The Sun. Over 30 national and regional TV and radio stations ran the story including Chris Evans Show, ITV Wales and BBC Newcastle. 26 key online news sites and blogs also ran the story.

The most coveted accolade for “Ultimate Game of the Year” at the world’s most popular gaming awards, was presented to Electronic Arts for Mass Effect 2, which also scooped “RPG of the Year.”

Plants vs. Zombies from Popcap Games also netted two Golden Joysticks, winning “Download Game of the Year” and “Strategy Game of the Year.” Activision’s seemingly unstoppable Call of Duty franchise, continued its annual winning streak with 2010’s third double, bagging “Shooter of the Year” for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and “One to Watch” for the forthcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops – released next month.

The 28th Annual Golden Joystick Awards celebrates a successful year which saw gaming further embed itself into people’s daily lives – as one of the UK’s most popular modern leisure activities.

28th Annual Golden Joystick Awards – The winners:

• Action Game of the Year sponsored by Nuts – Assassin’s Creed II
• ITN Game On Shooter of the Year – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• Racing Game of the Year in association with T3 – Forza Motorsport 3
• RPG of the Year in association with GamesRadar – Mass Effect 2
• Puzzle Game of the Year in association with NGamer – World of Goo
• Fighting Game of the Year in association with Official Nintendo Magazine – Super Street Fighter IV
• Sports Game of the Year sponsored by Mousebreaker.com – FIFA 10
• Strategy Game of the Year in association with PC Gamer – Plants vs. Zombies
• Music Game of the Year in association with Total Film – Guitar Hero 5
• Online Game of the Year sponsored by Game Gears – League of Legends
• Downloadable Game of the Year sponsored by Green Man Gaming – Plants vs. Zombies
• Habbo.com Portable Game of the Year – Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver
• Soundtrack of the Year in association with Metal Hammer – Final Fantasy XIII
• MSN One to Watch – Call of Duty: Black Ops
• UK Developer of the Year in association with Edge – Jagex
• Ultimate Game of the Year in association with GamesMaster – Mass Effect 2

Simon Maxwell from Future, Organiser of the Golden Joystick Awards, said:

“It is a testament to the creativity and diversity of the industry that games are booming. Games that are playable anytime, anyplace, anywhere across social networks and communications devices are delighting new players. At the same time, winners like Mass Effect 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 have taken storytelling and production values to the next level for committed gamers.

“The 26% rise was staggering, with more than 1.54m votes cast by gamers for their favourite games, setting a new record and further cementing the Golden Joysticks as a benchmark for gaming excellence.”

Check out the video Golden Joystick Awards 2010 – The winners

The innovative games developer has partnered with one of the UK’s most highly respected and fastest-growing indie record labels, Sunday Best Recordings, run by music aficionado Rob da Bank (Radio One, Bestival, Camp Bestival) to provide the game’s soundtrack. The label, set up in 1995, will supply over 40 tracks from their impressive stable of artists, providing the perfect soundtrack to accompany the fast-paced game play.

Big Match Striker players can listen to a feast of different music, including hip hop duo dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip, dub and big beat maestros Dub Pistols, electro wizards Grand National and much-hyped Lucky Elephant, plus many more top-class contemporary artists.

Big Match Striker will be updated with a new track each month, keeping players up to date with the latest releases from the label. Players can listen to music throughout the game, including the in-game menu as well as during matches. Players can also buy any of the tracks within the game by using a bespoke music player.

Big Match Striker, launching in September, challenges players to combine all the skills of chairman, manager, player and fan, resulting in an innovative game that blends football management strategy with animated trivia game play.

Geraint Orchard-Bungay, Supermassive Games™ Online Publishing Director, said: “We’re thrilled to offer our players a soundtrack of the highest quality with a diverse and hugely popular mix of music. The quality of the music is consistent with the depth and quality of the entire game, which, quite frankly, is equivalent to a boxed retail title that you’d expect to pay £40 for. We feel that we’re setting a whole new standard for free to play online games.”

Scroobius Pip commented: “”Big Match Striker is a great way to show off your football knowledge and management skills. The unique game play and flow of the graphics makes it all insanely addictive. Come on, you watch Match of the day every week and read the sports pages every day…why not turn that hard work into bragging rights!”

Label boss Rob da Bank, commented: “We’re really excited to be part of this fantastic new football game. I believe the soundtrack adds an extra level of enjoyment to the game and hope it inspires players of Big Match Striker to promotion and win trophies.”

***ENDS***