• Brandweek, Wednesday, April 26, 2006 11:45 AM

Bass Pale Ale plans to celebrate its Britishness in a new promotional campaign tied to a music tour that features a group of hot young British bands that are little known in the U.S. but are stars elsewhere. The groups are being touted as a new wave of British invasion bands that the U.K. brewer hopes will catch on with youthful ale drinkers in the U.S. Dubbed the BritBus Tour, the lineup of bands includes The Magic Numbers, Hard-Fi, James Blunt and Paul Oakenfold. The 10-city tour starts April 30 in Los Angeles and concludes May 25 in New York with an appearance on the "CBS Early Show" and at the Hard Rock Cafe. At each stop along the 4,000-mile tour, the BritBus will host U.K. listening parties. The sponsorship is not limited to the musical acts. The list of marketing partners includes companies such as Virgin Atlantic Airways, Virgin Megastore, Kicker Audio, Gibson, Epiphone, NME, Ashdown amplifiers, Coach USA and Premier drums. Fuse TV and Sirius Radio provide media support by documenting the music parties along the journey. "I know that there are millions of people across the U.S. who have simply never heard of these young Brit brands, although many of them are hugely successful in the rest of the world," Julia Jones, founder of the BritBus tour, which is in its second year, said. "I don't expect to single-handedly create a new surge of U.K. music sales, but this seemed like an exciting way to take British music to Americans' doors."

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