Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

During a tumultuous and trying time for both Australia and the world, Hendrick’s set out to create a media campaign that flipped consumer expectation on its head, bringing to life a never-before-seen combination of activations and experiential excellence that truly captured the unique and unusual nature of the Hendrick’s brand.

Background

Hendrick's is an oddly original gin infused with Rose & Cucumber that has been delighting & exciting drinkers with unusual escapades for decades. But in a context where craft gin competitors were exploding in popularity and the hospitality industry was struggling, Hendrick’s needed to cut through the clutter like lemon through tonic. And with Hendrick’s awareness at 52% vs 80% for key competitors, the challenge was a double shot: Be unwaveringly unique, and do so at a grand scale.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

The ongoing pandemic was and still is an unpredictable beast that has ravaged the emotional mindset of consumers, forcing millions to live in a harrowing hyper-reality perpetuated by constant media coverage. This wave of sameness across not just their media habits, but their locked-down lives, meant that consumers were craving an escape to something different, unreal, and inherently positive. Introducing our creative platform “An Eye for the Unusual” - an idea that would celebrate the unique nature of Hendrick's as a brand that invites the curious crowd to escape the conventional through distinct and recognisable creative, encouraging them to take a walk on the peculiar side, and rewarding them for embracing the unusual.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Combining cultural insight with our deep understanding of the Hendrick's brand as a creator of the curious and unusual led us to our strategic solution: Deliver disrupting, untraditional experiences within traditional media spaces to curious white spirit drinkers all over Australia, shifting their focus from the same to the unusual, to drive awareness & trial of Hendrick's Gin. We wanted to raise the bar for unusual and unexpected executions, and we did so literally, through A Most Unusual Campaign – A delightfully unique array of light projections, murals, pop-up bars, and more, all centered around a Hot Air Balloon Bar in the sky.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

We kicked off our campaign with flights of the Hendrick’s Most Unusual Bar floating in the Sky, which became the centerpiece for media partnerships on TV and radio, as it visited The Melbourne Cup and Sydney Harbour. Back down on the ground, we created pop-up bar experiences with men on penny-farthing bikes giving out free drinks in the form of cucumber vouchers. But we didn’t stop there, taking our mission of curiosity to traditional OOH channels by utilising Lenticular creative to produce moving floral faces. We partnered with artists to develop unusual murals tailored to their location, and dominated a bus shelter with a custom build, selected specifically for its index against our target audience. Then came the evening where we delighted nighttime city-goers with light projections of our unusual creative on iconic Australian buildings, capping of this unique campaign in style across 5 metro cities.

List the results (30% of vote)

Hundreds of pieces of UGC. Thousands of meters flown. Over 147 million media impacts, and over 10.8 million reached through PR. The most important results? A 29% increase in year-on-year sales, and 35% increase in YoY sales of 9 Litre cases, made possible by a 30% increase in brand awareness and 42% increase in consideration. A most unusual success.