Bacardi-Martini in ad deal with MyVillage

Revolution UK 31-Jan-05

Bacardi-Martini has signed an advertising deal worth up to £100,000 to sponsor domains owned by regional community site network MyVillage.

Bacardi Rum is sponsoring MyVillage in a partnership that will see prominent Bacardi branding on four MyVillage sites: myleeds.net; myliverpool.org; mymanchester.org and mybirm ingham.org. The push is from this January until February next year.

MyVillage's regional web sites are being targeted in order to reach media-savvy professionals aged 20 to 30, who use the web to source information on local bars and clubs.

Bacardi's offline events arm, B-Bar, will be organising themed nights with Passport, MyVillage's lifestyle loyalty card, which it launched in 2004.

Richard McCleod, Bacardi brand manager, said: "Few regional portals really talk to young affluent adults. MyVillage is the perfect vehicle for Bacardi to promote its brand in the cities we want when we want."

The brand is preparing to launch a site to push its lifestyle image and associate it with fashionable young adults that like clubs and music.

It follows the launch of bacardi DJ.com, which lets users mix tracks online, and has the backing of DJ artists such as Carl Cox and clubs including Ministry of Sound.

The brand aims to tie online with its B-Bar events.