All Aboard Mateys! Custom-built Pirate Ships for 2016 Summer Rum Festival

For this year’s Rum Festival travel retail promotion, Diageo wanted a custom-designed and built pirate ship with all the authentic fixings – truly a piece of retail stage-craft. CDM responded to the challenge with a hearty, Aye!!! Of course this could be no ordinary pirate ship. Aside from authentic rigging and sails with Jolly Roger giving fair warning, this very special vessel would need a Tiki-style rum tasting bar with stock holding area, plenty of cool graphics, a wheel of fortune with prizes…..and of course a parrot.

In fact, the brief was for two custom pirate ships, each slightly different from the other, to accommodate the different spaces at Hamburg and Frankfurt airports.

No ordinary project for sure – therefore, a CDM specialty! (Besides, who doesn’t like an excuse to talk like a pirrrrrate – arrrrrrh!) The CDM design team created some terrific visuals and then the project team took over to figure out how to make a four metre pirate ship and get it into an airport in a single night, fully rigged.

Strict adherence to fire certifications and considerations for limited airport access became part and parcel of the design build. So the “old wooden” galleon was constructed from fiberglass then painstakingly hand-painted in trompe l’oeil to create the amazing authenticity that can be seen in all the photos…and which is even more impressive in real life.  All the ropes were hand made with authentic rigging-locks, carved from real wood – again, all by hand.  The end result is such a realistic and sturdy ship, that our delighted clients couldn’t resist climbing on board (client’s privilege – thankfully no actual pirates to fight off after the photo shoot)!

Alongside the centerpiece pirate ship, there is a Tiki-style tasting bar where brand ambassadors present a full range of rums for travelers’ sampling pleasure.  Made from real (especially-treated, fire-rated) bamboo, the Tiki bar provides such a lovely shady spot from where to taste the many rums on offer, you can almost feel that lush sea breeze wafting through.  In addition to enjoying the tropical setting and rum sampling, a real wheel of fortune is on hand where lucky travelers can win a bottle of their favorite rum!

With such a range of rums to be catered for, the area is clearly divided into distinct promotional areas for each brand.  Zacapa, befitting its status, has a chic tasting area all its own, just a step away from Treasure Island and its famous resident Polly the parrot!  With 20 different rums to taste and purchase on this tropical island, travelers may need to plan a few extra trips through Hamburg Airport this summer to check out all of them!

Working closely with Heinemann to ensure a smooth project, all work was completed to schedule and within budget, first at Hamburg Airport, then Frankfurt Airport less than a week later. From the ceiling graphics to the floor graphics and everything in between, no details have been left out.

Thar she blows matey! Arrrhhhh!