Red Is As Red Does
When research reveals St Lucia as the top market for Campari consumption per capita, it’s a no-brainer that the island — home of The Pitons, those iconic mountainous volcanic plugs — would be the perfect locale for Gruppo Campari’s J Wray & Nephew execs to recently launch the always-coveted, stylised Campari calendar that for its 2015 iteration features silver screen siren Eva Green, famous for her role as Vesper Lynd in the 2006 James Bond film, Casino Royale.
Putting it on their tab, J Wray and Nephew flew in Campari distributors and members of the fifth estate from the Caribbean nations of Jamaica, Grenada, Dominica, St Maarten, Antigua, Belize, Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Guadeloupe and elsewhere for a four-day St Lucian stay with the main event, of course, being the red-themed social do.
The Rodney Bay Marina watering hole, Coconutz Cantina, located along the urban thoroughfare lined with gourmet restaurants, bars, and retail spots, was the chosen site for the red-hot launch.
Drawing inspiration from the Italian-created liqueur’s scarlet colour, the event’s stipulated dress code was red, and the open-air Coconutz Cantina bar space was awash, too, with shades of red — from the art-deco Campari signage, to a red wall lined with 12 life-size posters, replicating month after glamorous month of the Julia Fullerton-Batten-lensed calendar fronted by the oh-so-fab Green.
Italian and adopted Jamaican Ugo Fiorenzo, senior market director at J Wray & Nephew, never without a Campari cocktail close at hand, rubbed shoulders with the guests, among them the super-courteous trifecta of St Lucians — Carlos St Omer, regional sales manager for Campari; Paul Marshall, sales and marketing manager of Bryden’s Wines and Spirits; and Denver Alcee, Bryden’s Campari brand manager.
In-between canapé bites catered by Rituals Sushi and the bar’s in-house menu, guests enjoyed an island-styled entertainment showcase complete with stilt walkers and limbo-bending, fire-breathing dancers.
Raise a toast with SO as we check in to the Campari calendar launch event.
— Omar Tomlinson
