Lipton Ice Tea unleashes a thirst emergency patrol on Sziget Festival to save parched festival goers by any means unnecessary
- Festivals are great, live music, packed crowds, freedom (if only for a few days) but there’s a flip side to every bottle cap. Dancing = sweat. Crowds = lost friends. Sunshine = too hot.
- Lipton Ice Tea launched S.L.U.R.P. (Sziget Lipton Ultimate Refreshment Squad) to save festival goers from the 32°C heat and festival ‘emergencies’.
- They used unconventional and ridiculous solutions to cool off festival-goers and entertain them along the way
- #LiptonxSziget campaign was led by 30 creators from the UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Turkey and Hungary
- With its multi-channel influencer, experiential and paid campaign, Lipton took the 450k capacity festival by storm to become the most talked about brand at Sziget
22nd August 2023, New York, US – Leading global drinks brand, Lipton Ice Tea, has unveiled its solution to festival ‘emergencies’, a deadpan crew of summer saviours, S.L.U.R.P. who roamed Sziget Festival – one of the largest music and cultural festivals in Europe – in search of dancers in distress, solving problems no matter how trivial. The squad spent the weekend refreshing partiers with a combination of leaf blowers, super soakers, and of course some deliciously refreshing Lipton Ice Tea. Assembled to solve both summer and festival ‘emergencies’, S.L.U.R.P. (Sziget Lipton Ultimate Refreshment Patrol) scoured the festival for lost partiers, reuniting them with their friends whilst giving them a ride on pedal carts and alerting the crowds of this most trivial emergency via flags, loudspeakers and party sirens. The roaming stunt crew capped off its mission by staging a mass cool off moment in the form of a flash water fight near the festival’s mainstage providing much-needed refreshment in the scorching Budapest heat. Sublime, maybe? Ridiculous, definitely.
Led by a multinational group of creators from the UK, France, Germany, Poland, Turkey, Hungary and the Netherlands, Lipton Ice Tea’s S.L.U.R.P. was on a mission to entertain whilst resolving festival ‘emergencies’. With their slogan “by means unnecessary”, the methods they used were designed to make ‘Szitizens’ at the 450,000 capacity festival in Budapest, Hungary, laugh as much as they were cooled down.
Losing your friends is almost a guarantee at a festival, so the crew arrived on site with a decked out S.L.U.R.P fire truck. Setting up camp between the Main Stage, ‘the Colosseum’, and the giant ferris wheel, it provided a sunshine yellow and very central meeting point for lost festival goers to cool off and chill out with their feet in a paddling pool while waiting to reunite with friends.
The ‘Cool Off HQ’ doubled up as a base for two flash mob-style stunt activations on the festival’s busiest days on Saturday and Sunday. Triggered by curious festival-goers pushing a large, yellow ‘Press Me’ button, S.L.U.R.P. launched a mass refreshment water fight led by the creators, armed with super soakers, buckets and paddling pools to achieve ultimate refreshment.
The five-day campaign has achieved a combined reach of over 30 million followers on TikTok and Instagram, with content published across Lipton and Sziget festival’s owned channels – including an Instagram live straight from the thick of the Big Cool Off water fight activation – as well as the 30 influencers, including UK creators @TwinTube and French creators @NAMS, @SuitManParis and @JustinAccessible.
In partnership with leading global influencer agency Billion Dollar Boy, the campaign was executed in phases before, during and after the festival (10-15th August 2023) including: Lipton teasing and signposting the stunts to build anticipation for the festival activations; live creator content to share the fun far-and-wide as it happens; three collaboration posts with Sziget Festival official channels during the festival; recap creator and brand-owned content to share the experiences with their audiences; a paid campaign to amplify reach beyond the festival population.
The campaign is designed to generate talkability, grow positive brand sentiment and support organic brand engagement through online conversations around the stunts and activations. The combined campaign objective is to increase online share-of-voice, making Lipton Ice Tea the most talked about of the 48 official brand partners at the festival.
Victoire Binet, Global Digital Marketing & Brand Engagement Director of Pepsi Lipton, comments: “At Lipton Ice Tea we love the joy that festivals bring! But it’s not all sun and fun, there’s a flip side to festivals; whether it’s sweltering tents, lost friends or overheated mosh pits. That’s why we’ve co-ordinated a crack team of creators to cool down festival-goers and solve their festival ´emergencies’. Their methods may be unorthodox, but they’re sure to surprise and delight fans!”
Thomas Walters, Europe CEO and co-founder of Billion Dollar Boy, says: “We’re proud to be working with Lipton Ice Tea once again following the success of the #PassTheSunshine campaign in Melbourne earlier this year. Lipton Ice Tea embraces innovative and creative creator-led solutions to drive talkability and this latest campaign is no exception. In a competitive environment with 48 official brand partners vying for attention, creators and their individual personalities brought the #LiptonxSziget campaign to life, online and offline, creating moments that capture the imagination and build fame beyond the festival.
“Following the launch of BDB Europe last year, we’re delighted to support Lipton Ice Tea’s campaign at Sziget festival this year – one of the largest European music and arts festivals and with a growing international presence. We continue to share our expertise with global clients, delivering truly multi-national best-in-class creator-led campaigns.”
About Lipton
With more than 125 years of experience, Lipton is one of the world’s great refreshment brands, with tea-based drinks including leaf tea, ready-to-drink iced tea and infusions. Fun facts, Lipton is the No1 Tea brand globally, and the 2nd most consumed beverage brand globally! Lipton Ice Tea driven by positivity and passion to bring the natural goodness of great-tasting teas and ice teas to as many people as possible. For more information, please visit www.liptonicedtea.com
About Billion Dollar Boy
Billion Dollar Boy (BDB) is a global creative agency for the influencer age, using industry-leading tech solutions to deliver integrated, creator-led advertising and end-to-end campaign management.
Founded in 2014 by Edward East, alongside co-founders Thomas Walters and Permele Doyle, Billion Dollar Boy was among the first global influencer agencies and now has offices in London, New York and New Orleans.
Since its inception, BDB has partnered with some of the world’s leading brands – including Heineken, King, Nintendo, PepsiCo and L’Oréal – connecting them with more than 10,000 vetted content creators and reaching over 10 billion users globally.
BDB client campaigns have been awarded at the 2022 Cannes Lions, Influencer Marketing Awards, Webby Awards, The Drum Awards and Adweek.