Share/Bookmark

It’s official. Today, the Guinness World Record for the Largest Bikini Parade was broken in Panama City Beach, Florida. 450 bikini-clad women completed the parade, smashing the previous record of 357 set last year by Australia’s Gold Coast. With a lead of 93 over the previous record, Panama City Beach Spring-Breakers secured the title for the USA. The crowd of participants and onlookers broke into roaring chants of “USA! USA! USA!” as the paraders arrived back to the grandstand. Philip Robertson, official judicator and representative of The Guinness World Records made the official announcement that the record was broken.

The Bay County Tourist Development Council (TDC) hired SUMM Agency, formerly StudentUniverse Media, to produce the event. City officials, including the Mayor, were present at the event and proud to bring the title home to the USA. The bikini parade generated tremendous buzz in the news as well as social media. “It was a great event,” said Paul Tedeschi, General Manager of SUMM Agency. “In all my years of Spring Break Marketing, I think this was one of the most authentic activations that I’ve worked on. It really connected a lot of young people and gave some great exposure to the city. The Spring Breakers and locals told their friends and showed up in droves, excited to participate. It was a great use of event marketing to drive social buzz.”

SUMM Agency worked in collaboration with Collegiate Marketing Group to get the word out about the event. Sponsors included the Panama City Beach TDC, Gildan, and SUMM Agency’s parent brand StudentUniverse. StudentUniverse promoted the event and invited Spring Breakers to come out and win the title and hosted the official event on its Facebook page.

SUMM Agency has been present in Panama City Beach for the past week working with PepsiCo brand, SoBe, and its activation agency, Motive, to assist with a variety of Spring Break venue partnerships. SoBe representatives were present at the bikini parade event providing cold full-bottle samples of SoBe Lifewater.

In addition, SUMM Agency managed sponsorships at the Top of Gulf Resort in association with SandBlast, a live beach party including an event stage, a variety of daily activities, and brand sponsor activations. Sponsors of SandBlast, which continues for 3 weeks of Spring Break, include StudentUniverse, SoBe, Flashnotes, Uno Momento, and the National Volleyball League (NVL).