Mumm Champagne
The Champagne House, Mumm wished to reposition their brand with the launch of their new cuvée, The Grand Cru.
Captive Minds worked with Champagne Mumm to secure Bear Grylls’ participation in an attempt to break the record for ‘The World’s Highest Formal Dinner Party’ which took place just outside Ston Easton Park hotel in Wiltshire, United Kingdom.
The idea was to suspend a custom-built platform with table and chairs under a hot air balloon and take the entire rig up to 25,000 ft. Leading explorer and balloonist, David-Hempleman Adams would be piloting the balloon. From there, Bear Grylls and Lieutenant Commander Alan Veal would abseil out of the basket on to the platform and dine with a three course meal. Having toasted the Queen, the pair would freefall off the platform and land for a VIP reception at Ston Easton Park. The entire event would be filmed and syndicated for broadcast.
Prior to the event, Captive Minds worked extensively with Mumm Champagne to develop the strategy and branding around the event including trade promotional literature and a website. The team travelled to The Mumm Château in Reims, France to learn about the heritage of the Champagne House and sample some of their finest vintages.
Working with a support team, including Flight Sergeant Chis Thorn, Pete Russell from the Military Picture Library and ballooning expert, Nigel Mitchell, Captive Minds planned all the video requirements to capture the event – complex considering the factors of wind speed and direction which were unknown until the morning of the event. To get the footage required, Marcus Chidgey sourced F1-style pinhole camera technology from the BBC, a microwave link, a chase plane and helicopter.
Meanwhile, Captive Minds managed all VIP event requirements including an evening dinner, marquee installation, a custom-built Mumm bar and the menu selection.
As the video shows, the attempt went ahead with great success and incredible footage was secured on behalf of Mumm which was duly syndicated to all press outlets. A trade event was held in London by Mumm the same day which required a quick edit turnaround.
Perhaps the words of David Hempleman-Adams summed up the attempt best:
“Without doubt, this is the strangest record I have ever attempted. It was a fun stunt but was at the same time very dangerous. There were potentially a lot of things that could have gone wrong. The only drawback about the stunt was the other two members of the team ate all the food so there was nothing left when I landed.”
It was a great adventure and another record that Captive Minds has been extremely proud to work on.
