OUR WORK The St. Regis Aspen Resort
The Grand Sabrage: The St. Regis Aspen Resort Marks Milestone Brand Anniversary with a Champagne Spectacle
FINN set out to create a legendary moment that would build buzz for The St. Regis Aspen Resort during the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. We capitalized on the brand’s positioning as the House of Celebration and the Resort’s rich champagne history and daily sabering ritual to develop a see-and-be-seen effervescent celebration. Enter The Grand Sabrage, a program that brought together renowned culinary talent to saber 120 bottles of champagne in under 120 seconds, in celebration of the St. Regis brand’s 120th anniversary.
GOAL
Create an iconic champagne moment that would build buzz and drive traffic to The St. Regis Aspen Resort during the annual Food & Wine Classic.
SECTOR EXPERTISE
Consumer & Lifestyle
Travel & Tourism
120
champagne bottles sabred in under 120 seconds
10
culinary celebrity participants
hundreds
of consumers gathered in front of the resort’s recognizable corner entrance to join the celebration
10 million
media impressions
6 million+
social media impressions
The Work
The team at The St. Regis Aspen Resort came to FINN with the idea of celebrating the property’s tradition of sabering Champagne every afternoon in their courtyard. We quickly identified the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen as the perfect backdrop for this activation; Aspen will be teeming with food and wine lovers and top tier culinary and travel media! Further, the property already is the site of several events and seminars throughout the festival weekend. While exploring world records which had already been set for Sabering, the idea arose to create a ‘challenge’ to saber 120 bottles in under 120 seconds, as this also coincided with the St. Regis brand’s 120th anniversary. Far too ambitious an undertaking for one saber-er; FINN recruited a team of celebrity chefs, wine influencers and other culinary talent participating in the Classic to attempt the Grand Sabrage.
On the day of the Grand Sabrage, guests from the St. Regis, passersby and Aspen locals all gathered in front of the iconic property to watch this group don their Buckel sabers and pop the corks on 120 bottles of Champagne Telmont! Not only were the Chefs able to achieve the goal, the bottles were all sabered in under 50 seconds. Directly following the sabering, the Champagne started flowing and attendees were treated to Petrosian Caviar and Oysters as the celebration spilled out onto Dean St. Those attending the kick-off party for the Food & Wine Classic at the St. Regis’ inner courtyard all stopped by for a glass of bubbles, providing an opportunity to discuss the event and the property’s commitment to Champagne.