Jägermeister is taking its show on the road, targeting millennials with an elaborate activation as the official liqueur sponsor of six electronic dance music festivals produced by Live Nation. The brand has created a massive treehouse-like structure, which debuted at Electric Daisy Carnival at Citi Field in New York Saturday and Sunday, that serves as a gathering place for festivalgoers and provides brand education.
“We have to do something that’s really true to the brand, tells a bit of our story without clobbering people over the head with brand history and such,” said Jack Carson, director of event marketing for Jägermeister. “Millennials want to know about the quality of what they are tasting, drinking, eating, and experiencing and the craft behind it. We’ve never told that story in the U.S. before.”
Carson said they flew designers from Full Force Productions to Wolfenbüttel, Germany, where the liqueur is produced, to “see, touch, and smell” the brand before developing the activation. The result is a two-story lounge they call Haus56—in reference to the 56 herbs and spices that are in the recipe—that is topped with 40-foot antlers, which are a symbol of the brand.
To demonstrate that Jägermeister is about more than just shots, the bars inside Haus56 serves a variety of craft cocktails made with the liqueur in combination with fresh fruits and juices. Festivalgoers can also step inside the “herb locker” to make bracelets and headbands using things like cinnamon sticks, star anise, cardamom, and other ingredients that go into the brand. And what Carson calls “silent brand ambassadors”—actors dressed as stags and does—prance around the lounge and hand out tiny bottles filled with messages about the company’s history and production process.
“We wanted it to be somewhat whimsical and foresty to get back to Jägermeister’s roots in nature. We’re trying to push that message out in a really cool way,” Carson said.
Additional fun elements include a photo booth dubbed “Shot in the Dark.” Guests step inside a dark room and are hit with a loud blast of cold carbon dioxide, so the first image is their reaction to the surprise, followed by more traditional photos. Guests can also answer a series of questions on tablets to determine their “spirit animal” and then have it painted on their face or hands by artists inside the lounge.
The lounge is now being transported to Las Vegas where it will be reassembled for the Electric Daisy Carnival in June. From there it will go to electronic dance festivals in Los Angeles and Orlando.
