We invited twelve US-based elite influencers to unlock their spirit of summer and join a cohort of global peers at a secret tropical destination to compete in feats of summer prowess that were captured in a brand video produced by VICE. Our ambassadors navigated the unexpected on camera at every stage, playing competitive “Drench Ball” and facing musician Nick Jonas tossing pineapples as they sped down a giant water slide (#BecauseSummer).

Carefully tailored influencer briefs leveraged the talent’s channel strengths, encouraging them to integrate the Malibu bottle and brand into social content most organically. Live BTS Instagram posts and Stories brought the energy of the competition to life, and original YouTube videos featuring creative drone cinematography resonated with audiences, yielding an overall engagement rate of 11.5%—more than 10x our industry benchmark.

The campaign continued through the summer with local Malibu Beach House activations at music festivals, Pride parties, and across the country for the Fourth of July. Geo-targeted sets of influencers in-the-know attended and shared the fun to inspire audiences to reach for Malibu all summer long.