Q-Beach House – the perfect space for brands

Every summer, Qmusic returns to the seaside town of Ostend to broadcast live from the Q-Beach House, featuring live performances and music events from the sunny terraces. The Qmusic listeners were invited to visit the Q-Beach House to have a chat with the Q-DJs, enjoy a nice breakfast or simply hang out with tapas and cocktails while listening to live performances throughout the day.

Summer 2021 saw the first post-pandemic return of the Q-Beach House, which welcomed 200,000 visitors over the course of July and August. The Qmusic radio studio, at the centre of the huge beach club, was a tremendous success this year, resulting in 804 hours of radio broadcast live from the beach as well as 25 concerts with both national and international artists.

This special summertime event was the perfect opportunity for creative brand integration. DPG, Qmusic’s sales house, were able to bring a large portfolio of clients on board to engage with fans and listeners all summer long. The main sponsor was Coca Cola, while the full list of sponsors included a wide range of brands, such as C&A, Filliers, Telenet, Duvel, X2O, Avene and many others.

There were a number of competitions supported by the sponsors – Telenet, for example, offered the chance to win the best seats at live performances or a stay in the Q-Sunset Loft, plus many more prizes.

Filliers – brand integration at its best

For Filliers, a Belgian distillery, this summer campaign was especially transformative as it sought to re-position the brand from a family-owned distillery to a premium alcohol brand with a large selection of products. The Q-Beach House was the perfect occasion for them to introduce their new line-up of flavours to the public and re-position the brand.

Isabel Peeters, Managing Director of at-thetable, the brand studio of DPG Media, commented: “Filliers is an iconic brand with advertising campaigns that are part of the collective memory in Belgium. However, the summer of 2021 ushered in a new era for the brand, as it sought to reposition itself from a family-owned distillery to a premium spirits distiller, expanding the product segment to Gin, Vodka and Single Malt Whisky. With the help of Qmusic, the brand managed to transform the Q-Beach House into a massive tasting experience and communicate the reinvented brand to the general public.”

The brand was integrated throughout the Q-Beach House with small Filliers-branded bottles hanging from the ceiling, logos displays across the walls and Filliers spirits used to make the Q-DJs favourite cocktails. This brand integration was supported by a radio campaign that featured on-air segments and tag-ons.

Manu De Coninck, Audio Concepts Manager at DPG Media described the various brand integrations: “Q-Beach House was the ideal space to re-launch an iconic Belgian brand. We sold 46,000 Filliers-inspired cocktails, embedded the brand in the editorial context of our radio shows with a weekly quiz, ‘Surprise Your Bar’. A Q-DJ went to a random terrace in Flanders asking questions, if the contestant had the right answers, we offered the whole terrace, and the Q-Beach House terrace, a free drink. Needless to say, the Filliers cocktails and the Filliers branding on site was also a success on all social channels. The combination of classic radio advertising, editorial integrations, social and online content, branding and on the field sales/activation is the perfect recipe for a bespoke summer campaign.”

The client was very happy with the campaign. Kjell Dursin, Senior Brand Manager of Filliers commented: “How do you create a sampling action that resonates with consumers and shows them what your new product can bring to the table? You create a type of sampling at a place where your consumer doesn’t just taste cocktails, but experiences them as well. Thanks to the experience Q-Beach house offered, we reached more than 50.000 consumers who tasted our spirits.”