Top drinks marketing campaigns: October

8. Barullo event to to showcase Argentine edge

Wines of Argentina (WofA) has announced the launch of a new consumer and trade event celebrating “cutting edge” Argentina, which is set to take place in Hoxton, east London over four days.

Named Barullo, a word used to describe somebody or something making a noise or racket, the event will be held from 25 to 28 October at JJ Studios in Hoxton with trade-only sessions during the daytime on 25 and 26 and for consumers in the evenings from 25 to 28 October.

Trade activities will include a tasting zone dedicated to themes that “define Argentina’s cutting edge wine scene” and four food stations run by chef Mauro Colagreco’s 2 Michelin-starred restaurant Mirazur. An on-trade focus day will run on the 25th, a group of visitors that Andrew Maidment, UK head of WofA said had been “notoriously hard” to attract. Tickets will be available via Eventbrite.

7. New Wave Chile gets YouTube show

A TV wine educator is launching an online three-part documentary to demonstrate the new wave of Chilean wines and make it easier for consumers to understand them. Raul Diaz, who owns wine education business Wine Training Ltd and presents the wine segment on Channel Four’s Sunday Brunch, is releasing a documentary exploring Chilean wine, filmed in December last year, on Wine Training’s YouTube channel. The series will explore wines from the ‘New Chile” concentrating on vineyards in three of the country’s major wine-producing regions – the Von Siebenthal winery in the Aconcagua Valley, Concha y Toro in Maipo and Viña Ventolera in the Leyda Valley, and feature interviews with leading progressive winemakers Marcelo Papa of Concha y Toro, Mauro von Siebenthal, and Ventolera’s Stefano Gandolini.

Diaz told db the idea behind the documentary was to focus on regions that not only represent the essence of Chile as a modern wine-producing country but that would be easy for viewers to recognise. “The documentary focuses on the diversity of Chile as a wine country – the influence of the climate, the classic grape varieties that can produce very different styles of wine,” he said. The first 20-minute instalment of the documentary showcasing the Aconcagua Valley region has already been released, with the next two videos to be released over the next few months, followed by the full hour-long documentary in December.

6. Ardbeg launches £12k whisky survival challenge

Ardbeg is taking an ARDventurous approach to marketing its Scotch by inviting consumers to take part in a survival challenge on its remote island home of Islay, at a cost of £12,000. Led by Ardbeg distillery manager Mickey Heads and survival expert Monty Halls, the launch event will see 10 contestants take part in what the distiller has dubbed the “world’s most daring whisky challenge”. Trekking acorss the island, the group will spend three days learning how the smokiest, peatiest Islay malt whisky is made, starting with an apprenticeship at the distillery. The team will then set off with a ration pack containing, among other items, a bottle of Ardbeg Ten Years Old, a tin of sardines, iodine, Vicks VapoRub and black pepper.

After hiking to Ardbeg’s water source, Loch Uigeadail, the team will spend a day cutting the peat that lends Ardbeg its smoky character. Finally, they will row a cask of whisky along Islay’s rugged coast, following in the footsteps of its earliest distillers who transported their cargo by sea. Each day, contestants will be ranked for “Ardbeggian” qualities such as survival spirit, endurance and resourcefulness, with one emerging to become the ultimate “ARDventurer”. The launch event will see select Ardbeg fans and journalists take part. Consumers are able to book their own ARDventurer, with tailored trips starting at a rather hefty £12,000.

5. P Diddy gets motivated for Cîroc vodka

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has teamed up with rapper French Montana on a new “motivational” campaign for Cîroc vodka that he hopes will inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs. Intended to embody the “spirit of the hustle”, Ciroc’s “Let’s Get It” campaign will launch with a two minute video on billboard.com starring Diddy, French Montana and DJ Khaled. Describing the campaign as “motivational”, the trio hope that it will not only promote Ciroc vodka, but spark a movement to empower entrepreneurs to realise their dreams.

“I grew up wanting to change the world”, said Diddy. “Now I want to inspire and empower the next generation to dream big, work hard, and make their own success.” The ‘Let’s Get It’ video, directed by Emmy Award-winner Zach Heinzerling, tells the story of Combs’ rise to hip hop superstardom and entrepreneur. It also highlights the successes of other rising stars including Vogue Fashion Fund-nominated designer Chris Stamp and New York Harlem dancer Nikko. Combs has helped to promote Ciroc in the US since 2007, when he signed an “equal-share venture” with the producer, reported to have been worth $100 million.

4. Naked Wines named most socially active retailer

Naked Wines delivers the most engaging content to its customers across social media platforms, according to new research into wine retailers’ online activity. The study, conducted by marketing agency Leapfrogg, analysed 10 UK online wine sellers and clubs, looking at content across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, gauging how well audiences interacted with social activity. Berry Bros & Rudd came second in terms of social media engagement, followed by Virgin Wines in third place. The other retailers in the study, in order of social media engagement, were Honest Grapes, Majestic, Yapp Brothers, Oddbins, Laithwaite’s, Lea & Sanderson and Swig. Engagement levels across each social media channel were scored using analytics tools and qualitative testing.

Retailers received a score of zero to five for each platform, with five being the highest. Leapfrogg’s engagement rate scorecard covered user actions such as likes, comments and shares, which were then divided by the number of fans to ensure retailers with different sized audiences could be compared. Naked Wines scored 19 out of a possible 25. “It harnesses relationships with members of its customer base, including them in social activity as if they were an extension of the brand’s team,” Leapfrogg reported, pointing out that Naked Wines’ behind-the-scenes content and direct communication with customers helped to “humanise” its social media offering. Although the top three brands were said to be very different from each other, Leapfrogg’s research found that the common thread was having a strong understanding of their audience and tailoring their online identity to appeal to those audiences.

3. Carlsberg unveil ‘push for beer’ button

Carling has launched a ‘beer button’ that sits on your fridge and allows consumers order more beer without going online. The company is working with the five major multiples so that once the ‘beer button’ has been set up, it integrates with a consumers’ online shopping account via an app. When the button is pressed, the product is automatically added to their basket via the smartphone app.

Alpesh Mistry, customer marketing director at Molson Coors, said the ‘beer button’ was designed to tackle the increasing problem of brand visibility online and drive both brand and retailer loyalty, pointing to research that shows online customers only see around 10 products on a page when shopping online and are unlikely to click through to a second page.

2. Jukebox used to drive safe drinking message home

Pernod Ricard has strengthened its commitment to the promotion of responsible drinking having partnered with US-based TouchTunes. Found on jukeboxes across the US, TouchTunes is an interactive music platform capable of screening real time information and adverts. Pernod Ricard, on behalf of its Absolut, Malibu and Jameson’s brands, is sponsoring an arrangement between TouchTunes and TransitScreens, which will result in real-time schedules for local trains, subway, buses, taxis, or rideshare options such as Uber or Lyft displayed in bars and pubs. The partnership will allow Pernod to screen its own messages for responsible drinking, reaching some 38 million millennials who access the platform each month.

“Touch Tunes digital jukebox screens offer an innovative way to engage consumers in our ongoing fight against any irresponsible consumption of our products,” said Jack Shea, vice president of corporate communications at Pernod Ricard USA. “With TransitScreen’s convenient, real-time information now accessible via TouchTunes’ powerful platform, people out socialising can maximize their time with each other and get home safely”, added TransitScreen co-founder and chief operating officer Ryan Croft. The TransitScreen content will be available on TouchTunes jukeboxes in more than 200 locations in 14 cities, with plans to expand further.

1. Dom Pérignon emplys Christoph Waltz for P2 campaign

Dom Pérignon has announced a new marketing campaign for its P2 Champagne featuring Oscar-winning actor Christoph Waltz. The campaign, called ‘Meet the Ultimate Dom Pérignon, P2 Plénitude Deuxième. Touched with plénitude’, sees Waltz “capture” the multitude of expressions and emotions contained within a bottle of P2. The photography was handled by Billy Kidd, who is known for his expressive portrait work, which made him the “natural” fit for the campaign. Shot in black-and-white, the pictures are said to capture, “the suspended moment of someone in the midst of fully savouring an experience.” The campaign also includes a 30-second video featuring Waltz enjoying a glass of P2 set to Beethoven’s Ode to Joy (which you can watch below). Dom Pérignon’s vintage-only Champagnes age in a series of stages – or plénitudes – when the Champagne can be disgorged and released to offer a different expression of the same vintage. Each Dom Pérignon Plénitude has a distinct character.

The first plénitude, Dom Pérignon vintage, is revealed after at least eight years in the cellars, depending on the vintage. According to Dom Pérignon, P2 is a product that requires more time to reach its second plénitude, and is the result of 16 years of maturation. Previously called Oenothèque, Dom Pérignon changed the name of its late-release Champagne to P2 in 2014. “Dom Pérignon has developed through plenitudes since day one, so there is nothing new, but we felt that instead of referring to oenothèque, which is the site holding the inventory, it was better to refer to plénitude,” explained Dom Pérignon cellar master Richard Geoffroy, speaking to db when the P2 1998 was launched. Explaining further the plenitude concept, Geoffroy said that Dom Pérignon, when left in contact with its lees, does not evolve in a linear fashion, but ages in a series of stages, producing “windows of opportunity, or plenitudes” when he believes the Champagne can be disgorged and released to bring consumers a different expression of the same vintage. “The programme is based on the observation that these wines don’t develop in a steady or linear way, but in plateaus, giving windows of expressions,” he recorded. Geoffroy said that he witnesses “no less than three windows in the life of a given vintage,” pointing out that the first plenitude comes around eight years after the vintage, which is when Dom Pérignon Vintage is released, while the second one arrives between 12 and 16 years – which was previously the first oenothèque release, but is now known as P2. “Eventually there is a third window, after around 30 years, when the Champagne has spent no less than 20 years on its lees,” he said.