Beach Rescue Project: Barefoot Wine & Surfrider Foundation
Barefoot Wine has a longstanding history of supporting local communities through charitable partnerships. In order to strategically organize and promote Barefoot’s heritage of giving back with a single national platform, the Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project (BWBRP) was created in partnership with the Surfrider Foundation, to help keep America’s beaches “barefoot friendly.”
In 2011, the fifth year of BWBRP, Barefoot hosted 21 beach cleanup and restoration
events from coast-to-coast. In each market, volunteers took on the challenge of cleaning the shorelines, digging and planting native greenery or sorting through the collected litter to separate recyclable items. Following every cleanup event, volunteers 21+ were invited to attend an appreciation celebration at a nearby venue to reward them for their good deed. Each event featured complimentary surf-inspired fare and Barefoot Wine.
More than 1,400 volunteers participated in events throughout the summer, collecting more than 3,000 pounds of marine debris and increasing Surfrider Foundation’s local membership base and awareness, breathing new life into smaller chapters. In addition, Barefoot Wine made a $150,000 donation to Surfrider Foundation to support its numerous activations and regional campaigns.
Judges loved the partnership fit between Barefoot and Surfrider and felt that this campaign effectively engaged consumers in volunteer roles, which requires a significant investment of both time and resources. By taking this hands-on approach and hosting a large number of events in various locations, the brand truly demonstrated an authentic commitment to the cause. While judges felt it was challenging to tie the brand’s 45% growth in sales over the past 10 years to this specific cause partnership, they did acknowledge that this effort most certainly could have a positive impact in brand loyalty.
