The Brief

Our secondary audience were high society prospects from a list provided by Raffles Hotel and Citibank. The Raffles Hotel Wine Food & Arts Experience is a gourmet event featuring Michelin-Star chefs. To up Raffles Hotel’s air of exclusiveness and pique interest for this annual event, we came up with a tongue-in-cheek club called “The Secret Society of the Gourmandise”. The idea was to keep knowledge of this sought-after event away from the public eye as seats are limited, so that true gourmet lovers (also known as society members) would be informed first about this event.

Creative Execution

With the economy barely out of recession, it was going to be hard getting people to part with cash for this luxury. Unless, of course…we made it “underground”. This campaign appealed to our target audience’s ego. By inviting this limited group of people to be members, it made the event exclusive, and thereby, desirable. Each vintage book was handpicked and hollowed out by hand, for that extra touch of individualism. It complemented Raffles Hotel’s image as a historical icon perfectly, and created fresh buzz for an established event while instilling a sense of belonging for Raffles Hotel patrons.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

We created a secret society for gourmet lovers. People on our limited database were sent a very discreet package inviting them to be a member and informing them of an event worthy of a gourmand—the Raffles Hotel Wine, Food & Arts Experience. The invitation and a programme booklet were hidden inside an old hard cover book with a secret compartment, effectively hiding knowledge of the event from the general public. Our goal was to create new buzz for this annual event, reinforce Raffles Hotel’s exclusive image, and help garner bookings for the event.

Results

We achieved a great response rate of 25%, resulting in 90% of the seats being booked a month even before the event commenced. Considering that each seat costed up to S$688 and there were 800 seats to be filled, this is a superb achievement. The event was fully booked by its commencement date. Recipients of the secret package were pleasantly surprised, with some saying they would keep the secret compartment book for their own use.