When museums and galleries were closed during the second lockdown, Campari put 5 artists back to work and gave them a public exhibition, turning 5 bus shelters into a pop-up gallery. It became the most viewed exhibition of the year and the works were auctioned to support Brussels Museums.

Using an everyday medium in an unexpected way made Campari relevant to its target demographic in an entirely new way. It provided its target audience with an impactful cultural brand experience they could directly enjoy in a time when consuming culture seemed impossible.

Campari 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.

Campari decided to reposition its brand so that it would propel the brand into younger people’s lives. Campari has an iconic art history, being an ally to artists for over a century. Its art heritage is impressive, spanning over countless artists who they commissioned art from over the years to decorate their bottles. This gave birth to “Campari Bus Shelter Art gallery”. Speaking to young urban culturally savvy people through means of art put Campari on the map of our target audience.

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

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 the city of Brussels.

We needed a true statement on a brand level that cemented Campari’s role within its category and Belgian society – given our cool, urban target audience - as a whole.

Because of COVID-19, the cultural sector in Belgium was suffering immensely. Being an ally to art and creativity in Belgium, we felt like Campari had to do something substantial. It was time for a story-doing approach that would once and for all prove Campari’s commitment to artistic excellence and self-expression in Belgium, which coincidentally is a subject our target audience feels very strongly about. If there were no support for the Belgian art scene, a whole generation of artistic heritage would be lost.

If Campari wanted to continue and safeguard its artistic heritage, it knew it had to invest in the future of Belgian art.

To make our statement heard, we launched the campaign in collaboration with the Brussels museum federation using 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 quickly featured in all main lifestyle magazines during the following weeks.

At the same time, a paid social campaign was launched, highlighting the artist, the final artwork and where to find it. To further maximise our visibility, we set-up geo-localised ads near the artworks, letting people know they were near an exclusive open-air gallery and enticing them to check it out. Content partnerships with relevant lifestyle influencers who actively promoted the bus shelter tour ensured our artworks remained top of mind.

Afterwards, we showed our commitment to Belgian art by auctioning the works through a social campaign. Raising €14.663 to support the Brussels museums.

- 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