Mission

We were tasked with organising a trip to New York City for a group of top-tier journalist from the UK. The American guitar extraordinaire that is Fender was releasing its hybrid guitar – the American Acoustasonic. The trip would be an exclusive sneak peek for the press to get ‘hands on’ with the innovative model before its official release at NAAM later in the month. The American Acoustasonic was a major release from Fender and represented a big step for the brand. Little Red Rooster wanted to position the guitar to the press as the ultimate 21st century model which marries the worlds of iconic design with innovative technology.

Method

As soon as we got the brief for the trip, we hit the phones in good Little Red Rooster fashion, hand-picking a collection of our best contacts from the media here in the UK. This wasn’t straight forward as we wanted to approach an amalgamation of national, music, design and lifestyle press who would be impressed with the technology behind the American Acoustasonic, the beauty of the new model and the importance of its release for the guitar industry. We secured journalists from Esquire, the Financial Times, Evening Standard Magazine, Highsnobiety and Official Charts. We ensured that briefing notes were compiled so that the press were ready to speak to relevant personnel at Fender, such as the CEO, master builders or the marketing chief. Furthermore, all angles were agreed beforehand with expected coverage decided ahead of the trip – all the while with a busy press office confirming news and features pieces with all other relevant UK outlets back home. We wanted to capture the magic of Fender and inspire the UK press with this new launch, and we knew that a trip to the Big Apple would do just that.

Boom

The trip was a fantastic opportunity for Little Red Rooster to strengthen ongoing relationships with key press from national and lifestyle titles as well as secure new ones in the music sector. Furthermore, we secured a plethora of brilliant coverage for the launch of the Acoustasonic including a shopping page in Evening Standard Magazine, Highsnobiety’s Instagram and full pages in GQ and Wired and a double page spread in Stuff, reaching a wide range of demographics. We found ourselves centre stage in an iconic time in Fender history, at a global event with attendees from all territories!