Brief Explanation

The perception amongst this market was that Martell VSOP was for their dads, uncles or ah beng guys in KTV lounges. To change perception, we had to do something surprising, interesting and out of the ordinary. Also, the campaign was set to run during the worst financial meltdown in history. People were taking pay-cuts, losing jobs, and losing hope. We wanted to use these circumstances to reposition Martell VSOP as a brand relevant to them and their daily lives – owning your own business is a massive aspiration amongst the target market.

The Brief

Reposition Martell VSOP in order to appeal to a younger, more sophisticated market: 25 to 35 year-old Chinese Singaporeans. We had come to learn that Martell VSOP’s previous marketing activities were not resonating with this market. The existing message was expected and thus ignored. We therefore understood that we could not look and sound like all the other brands did. We had to shift VSOP from being a brand that showcases success (like most premium alcohol brands do), to a brand that enables success.

How the final design was conceived

In essence, the creative idea was to give the ordinary guy a shot at extraordinary success. So we hired a shop space in Clarke Quay for a year, remodelled it, and presented it as The Ultimate Start-Up Space: anyone could win the space (rent free for six months), they just needed a great business idea. The shop space became the advertising for the campaign - projections of potential business ideas were on a constant loop, beckoning you to submit your idea. Two areas were dedicated to product display/information and events. All said and done, the prize was the ad.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

The store was part of a larger campaign. It urged people to go online and submit their business idea. From the conversations online, it became clear that people were surprised and enthused by this brand behaviour: 60 111 followers on Twitter. 29 442 fans on Facebook. 2,068,594 total unique views for all social media, blogs and forums. 26.3 million Google search listings for “ultimate start up space”. 40% increase in search traffic for Martell. Over $590 000 in free PR. But most important, Martell made an entrepreneur’s dream come true: The winning idea, Chupitos, opens its doors in September 2010.