Boomtown Strategic Brand Agency and Castle Milk Stout recently took the brand to new heights, literally, when they hosted a Pause in the Sky as part of the experiential brand activation for the Pour, Pause, Sip, Enjoy concept. Boomtown was appointed by South African Breweries (SAB) in June 2010 to manage the below the line activities related to the Castle Milk Stout brand. The objective was to increase product growth and reposition Castle Milk Stout to make it more enticing to a younger aspirant target market without alienating the current consumer. 

Boomtown together with Castle Milk Stout conceptualized a new positioning, occasion and ritual for the brand based on extensive research that revealed that the old positioning led to a situation where the product categorization became the enclave of consumers who identified their own occasion for the beer and how to drink it. This became problematic as most consumers classified the product as a beer instead of a stout. Even in instances where they compared it with other stouts it was incorrectly done because Castle Milk Stout is not a dry stout like many, but a sweet stout. With a new positioning, occasion and a ritual, Boomtown together with the Castle Milk Stout Brand team conceptualized an experiential activation that would dramatize this through the Pause in the Sky experience which took place in conjunction with brand experience agency VWV.

The first two events took place in Johannesburg and Durban respectively, with the Pause, Pour, Sip, Enjoy journey starting at a rotating bar where guests experienced the first three steps of the ritual. The fourth and final step of the ritual saw guests hoisted 60 metres in the air on a Sky Table literally taking them out of the busy city and leaving the hustle and bustle behind to enjoy food parings with Castle Milk Stout while enjoying the spectacular 360 degree view of Johannesburg and Durban respectively. At the after party, guests were entertained by a premium entertainment line-up including DJ Black Coffee and Zakes Bantwini who encapsulated the type of music that mixes with unwinding in Johannesburg. Durban on the other hand was entertained by Bantu Soul, Zonke Dikana and Dj Vinny da Vinci with his laid back grooves. The Durban night was capped off with a great performance by Zakes Bantwini who proved to be a good pairing with Castle Milk Stout. The guests included media, social bloggers, local celebrities and lucky consumers who were selected through a recruitment process and competitions on radio and social media site Facebook. The experience thus far has seen consumers immersed in the world of Castle Milk Stout where they got to slow down and unwind away from their fast paced life while on a multi-sensory experience dramatizing the Pour, Pause, Sip, Enjoy ritual that differentiates Castle Milk Stout from other stouts.

“It was exciting to be involved in an event that broke the mould in terms of brand activation. It was really important for us to bring the experience to the consumer and demonstrate the essence of Castle Milk Stout. The positive response from the first two events shows that the brand is poised for momentous success on this new journey it has undertaken and it’s great to be involved in this journey on both a strategic and creative level” said Neil Hart, MD of Boomtown Strategic Brand Agency.

“It was amazing to see how much attention the brand received from curious onlookers, especially at the Durban event. I think people will be talking about this for a while” Hart added.

The next Pause in the Sky experience will take place at the Pretoria Show Grounds on July 13.