Campari’s art & design heritage is impressive, spanning over countless artists who they commissioned art from over the years to decorate their bottles.

However, they had been struggling with a fiercely loyal, yet ageing consumer base. Its problem wasn’t that it didn’t have any Campari lovers, but that it wasn’t recruiting any new generations. Campari didn’t feel close to the world of young urban professionals in any way, despite being perceived by all different age ranges as an iconic brand. Also, the brand struggled to achieve local relevance in the Belgian market.

So Campari decided to reposition its brand in a way that would propel the brand into younger people’s lives.

When museums and galleries were closed during the second lockdown, Campari put 5 artists back to work and gave them a public exhibition, turning a number of bus shelters into a pop up gallery.

Campari didn’t want to invest in mainstream advertising. It went back to its roots and “Campari Bus Shelter Art Gallery” was born.

Campari commissioned artworks from 5 talented Belgian artists. The works were displayed on 5 popular locations in a bus shelter campaign, bringing the artworks directly to the Belgian public. 5 artworks, all original.

This way, Campari would invest directly into the Belgian art scene. The works then went up for auction, with the proceeds going to Brussels Museums, an organization funding and promoting museums in Brussels. Apart from the powerful message Campari sent to the Belgian cultural sector, this action showed the target audience that Campari cares about the same things they do. It made the brand feel closer and believable, putting their money where their mouth is. Furthermore, it gave young Belgian art lovers the chance to experience the art tour, safely in open air, throughout Brussels.

To increase the campaign credibility, Campari commissioned works that were created specifically for this very campaign. The original pieces were displayed in bus shelters, instead of print copies. Using only crafts and materials found appropriate by the artist.

The campaign was launched through a press tour where we invited lifestyle and design press to visit the works alongside with the respective artists. Combined with relevant media partnerships, the bus shelter tour was featured in all main design and lifestyle magazines during the following weeks.

At the same time, a social campaign was launched, highlighting the artists and their artistic process. All video material was created in collaboration with the respective artists, who were responsible for its art direction as well.

The “Campari Bus Shelter Art Gallery” spoke to young urban culturally savvy people and put Campari on the map of our target audience, once again through design and art

- Paid media reach: 800.000, with a budget of 14k

- This was amplified by PR, resulting in a total reach of 3.3 million (which is almost 1 in 3 Belgians!)

- Landing page: more than 48.000 visits.

- Total amount raised for Brussels Museums: almost 15.000 EUR

- Limited Poster editions of the artworks are now part of the collection of the NY poster museum