Briefing: For the fifth consecutive year, Born is responsible for the activation of the Mega Pic Nic Continente. What's new this year?

Duarte Vilaça: The Mega Pic Nic Continente is a huge activation platform for the brand, allowing it to address various themes. There is a central theme, which is the promotion of national production within a family entertainment environment that has proven successful over the years. Additionally, we have been working on emerging themes, in connection with what is happening in Portuguese society. Thus, we have evolved from encouraging the purchase of national products to, this year, inviting city dwellers to relearn how to cultivate: in gardens, terraces, or even indoors. Urban agriculture is a theme with growing impact in Western societies, generating real communities of urban farmers who have a new relationship with agricultural products, their production, and food. From this, the idea of creating a Mega Garden at the heart of the event was born, where visitors can get their hands dirty and discover a new way to save money. Being a segment leader, as Continente is, is demonstrated in many ways, such as in the ability to go beyond the brand's agenda and push transformative themes for the betterment of communities, which will be the case in this edition.

In addition to this, we are also focused on reinforcing the playful dimension of the event, inviting representatives from some of Portugal's most iconic festivals to be present at the Mega Pic Nic, such as the Campo Maior Flower Festival, Tomar's Tabuleiros Festival, Ponte de Lima's Feiras Novas, São Bartolomeu from Celorico de Basto, and the Caretos of Podence, from Macedo de Cavaleiros. These festivals will bring even more entertainment to the venue and enhance the event's programme.
But there will be many other activities, such as a recreation of grape harvesting, olive picking, and potato gathering, which will serve as a warm-up for the big concert by Tony Carreira, included this year as part of the celebrations of his 25-year career.

Briefing: What are the expectations regarding the public turnout at the event?

Duarte Vilaça: Large activations like this, with free admission, are always hard to predict. The Mega Pic Nic has broken participation records year after year, which gives us the comfort of knowing we're on the right track, but also the challenge of improving the experience year after year to make it even better. There are several variables, like weather conditions, that can influence the final number, but I believe all entities involved in the Mega Pic Nic would like to surpass last year’s number, which exceeded 500,000 visitors—a truly fantastic figure.

Briefing | How was the message communicated to the general public?

Duarte Vilaça: The Mega Pic Nic Continente has been promoted through an integrated campaign involving TV, outdoor advertising, radio, web, and Continente's own media. The campaign has focused on stores with a series of activations in-store and street activations in the heart of Lisbon. One highlight is the Mega Parade, which took place last Saturday and has already whetted the appetite in downtown Lisbon for what's to come.

Briefing | What does this initiative represent for Born’s activities and projection?

Duarte Vilaça: It is undoubtedly the most complex and largest brand activation ever carried out in Portugal, so we have particular pride in this major event, especially since we have been involved in it since day one, across all five editions. It represents everything we believe in: the need for brands to create their own content, tailored to an entertainment-driven society, as a way to enhance the delivery of messages in response to the failure of traditional tools; the imperative need for this content to focus on the brand's core—in this case, food—unlike the absurdity of sponsorships that have no criteria or relevance, which we often see in our market. It also reflects an exercise in incorporating broader societal themes and public agenda topics that elevate the Mega Pic Nic in every aspect.
It also demonstrates the benefits of long-term relationships between clients and agencies: the Mega Pic Nic Continente—being a public event—comes with risks, and I believe it’s only through a great deal of trust between the brand and its partners that we have been able to grow year after year with such success. Continente's marketing team deserves congratulations, and it is clearly an industry benchmark. It's hard to believe that, five years after the first Picnic, there are still so few comparable cases.

Briefing: What other actions does Born have with Continente?

Duarte Vilaça: Born works with Continente on two fundamental levels: strategic planning and brand content development. In this context, we are tasked with understanding major sector trends, both nationally and internationally, and seeking to incorporate them into the communication formats that answer these opportunities.
Besides the Mega Pic Nic Continente, we have developed the Mercado de Sabores format, supported the activation of the sponsorship of the National Football Team, and contributed to the development of the initiative Missão Sorriso and the Popota mascot. There are other projects underway in which we are, of course, actively involved.
Our involvement in these projects varies, and we often work in partnership with other agencies that collaborate with Continente, such as Fuel (advertising), Havas (digital), GCI (PR), or NIU and Realizar (production). This is a paradigm in which Continente has also innovated, and that has clearly benefited the final outcome of all initiatives.