The Campaign

Stay True To Your Blend The blend is what makes Ballantine’s unique, a flavor that is dependent on 50 different single malts and 4 single grains blended together. And just like Ballantine’s, our blend of personality traits is also what makes us who we are. Nobody is a single malt. Based on this insight, we created an integrated campaign celebrating our consumers’ individuality. At the core of our campaign was an interactive “personality test” capable of matching any personality type to a specific Ballantine’s blend. This test was supported by a highly shareable social media platform, a digital activation within high-traffic airports, as well as online films and posters. By showing whisky drinkers that Ballantine’s has a blend of whisky for every blend of personality, we effectively educated our audience on the versatility and benefits of blended Scotch whiskies against single malts.

Creative Execution

To ensure our campaign effectively reached our target audience, we optimized it to connect with them throughout their travel journey. We launched the campaign on social media with Facebook ads celebrating personality archetypes. The ads, supported by online banners and posters, lead to the ‘Stay True to Your Blend’ mini-site where our audience was invited to take the personality test. Once completed, they were rewarded with a voucher for a tasting experience which drove them to the airport store. Travelers who did not encounter our campaign before reaching Incheon airport were greeted by geo-based ads on arrival, inviting them to take the test in-store. Within the stores, customers could discover their blend by experimenting with our Interactive Blending Table. Participants were encouraged to share their test results on social media, amplifying the campaign’s reach. Finally, a series of online films encouraged everyone to Stay True to Their Blend.

Results

We reignited interest in Ballantine’s by challenging an increasingly popular perception that single malts are superior to blended whiskies. Our 3-month campaign successfully built brand equity and increased Ballantine’s sales and trials in South Korea. Most importantly, we brought single malt drinkers back into the blended whisky fold, leading Ballantine’s to recapture a fraction of the market share they’d previously lost to the category. Overall, the campaign was so successful that a second phase was launched at the beginning of 2017. Business Ballantine’s sales increased by 22% (against our original objective of 5%) Our personality test engaged 25,786 consumers, 8,921 of which went on to experience our blending activation in-store. Our content engagement results were also very positive, with 1.8 million social media impressions. Marketing The brand’s overall performance grew by 8%

Through our integrated digital campaign targeting travelers, we drove consumers to interact with an online test that matches the player with a blend of Ballantine’s based on their personality type. This activation was enhanced with an interactive experience in-store, leading to increased sales within this channel. Furthermore, participants were encouraged to share branded content on social media, allowing us to gather data to further increase sales by strengthening our understanding of our target audience.

Our campaign effectively targeted travelers, mainly young, sophisticated Korean men with refined tastes who appreciate whisky but find the segment overly complex and somewhat stuffy. Through personalization, we simplified the purchase decision and educated our audience about Ballantine’s whiskies in a novel, relatable way. We knew this approach would resonate with our audience because our research showed that they are the type of person who finds pride in their drink of choice. By showing them that what they drink can truly reflect who they are, our campaign appealed to their sense of pride and created a strong emotional bond between them and their chosen whisky.