Our first marketing campaign
Our first campaign was a success: we met more than 400 people in the town of Paredes de Coura. And this campaign wasn't made with money alone. It was made with heart.
Diogo Ferreira ·
Yesterday went down in BananaSplit history. We ran our first campaign... and it was guerrilla.
This campaign wasn't made with money alone. It was made with heart.
Our signs were made from cardboard boxes we had at home. But that didn't make them tacky. The letters weren't written. They were drawn. Every letter has a unique curve, and even the flaws add to their charm.
We brought beer, Coke and water (although the last one wasn't very popular). We added a personal touch to everything. The beer wasn't just any beer. It was Super Banana Bock.
And the gummies were bananas in custom-made bags... Those little touches that make all the difference... We set off in three cars: one from Braga, one from Esposende and one from Âncora.
Destination: the Paredes de Coura river.
But there was a BIG problem
Even though the festival hadn't started yet, access was already restricted by the event's security team, and a massive ramp separated the car from the spot we wanted to reach. Luckily, they let us in and allowed us to park halfway down.
The second challenge was carrying the coolers and all the equipment from the car to the spot. More than 200 beers, Cokes and bottles of water.
It took all our strength and ten Hail Marys!!
We set up our "stand"
And all our anxieties (Will anyone come? Is this a good spot? Is the campaign any good?) disappeared.
The reception was incredible
We had only just finished setting up when someone approached us in the very first minute.
People came over, curious, and they never stopped... Dozens of people came to meet us.
Everything was going incredibly well until...
The thing we feared most happened
We were generating so much buzz that the festival organizers shut us down.
"You can't run a campaign here"
Even though the festival hadn't started yet, we knew we were taking that risk. Still, it was a disappointment.
Everything was going even better than we had imagined. The people of Paredes de Coura are something special, and they gave us so much affection and support.
In that hour and a half, we had already handed out more than half the drinks we brought. More than 200 people had spent time with us. By every measure, it was already a success.
But it still hit our morale. Things were going so well, and suddenly we had to stop.
We decided to chill and enjoy the rest of the afternoon by the river. We had fun, soaked up the sun and then went for dinner.
But our mission was to hand out every last beer!
We decided to continue the campaign at night and catch people outside the festival grounds as they headed towards the parties in town.
The problem was that everyone was more spread out. We couldn't immediately find a good place to set up, but we had to try. Life is made of risks.
We set up in one spot, but it was too dark and nobody could read the message. We moved somewhere with more light, but there were houses nearby and the Portuguese CCTV started watching us. We moved again, chose a third spot and finally got it right.
It started slowly, but then it took off. And it went incredibly well!!
Within an hour, we were out of stock. The love from everyone was incredible. They loved our campaign, the improvisation, and the fact that it wasn't at all "professional" but was made with care. Everyone we spoke to wanted to help us. They liked that we were challenging what was already established and bringing a fresh perspective to an expense-splitting app. That we were Portuguese, giving it a go, on the grind with our friends. And speaking of friends...
Without our friends, none of this would have been possible!
The heart you put into this was inspiring.
Rita. Soraia. Ana. Henrique. Iolanda. Angela.
Thank you for becoming part of our story ❤️
BananaSplit isn't just me and Leo. It's all of us. And yesterday, we knew that for sure.
