The Brand
Hendrick’s Gin
The Media Owner
Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) & iProspect
Background and Brief
Australians had been in lock down, repeating the same routine day after day, unable to visit live events and experience new things, but in Canberra in March the hospitalisation cases had dropped to <50.
With this knowledge SCA, iPROSPECT and Hendrick’s wanted to bring some unusual joy back into people’s lives. As a uniquely original gin, infused with rose and cucumber, Hendrick’s has been delighting and exciting drinkers for decades, but we recognised in regional Australia that they were often left out of the big events in the main metropolitan hubs.
Therefore, we curated an opportunity for consumers to experience a live event with moments of delightful peculiarity via a successful partnership on air, online, and in real life, with Hendrick’s at the centre. The main objective was to increase awareness, engagement and ultimately sales.
The Solution
First, we decided on a huge branding centre piece – the Hendrick’s Hot air balloon and sent it to Canberra. Then we identified the perfect touchpoint to connect with locals via their recognised hosts on Canberra Mix 106.3, Kristen and Nige – with a daily local listenership of 140,000 (equating to 30% of the capital’s population).
Combined with strong reach, we also knew that trust metrics were as high as 42% for radio endorsements, so we engaged via every touchpoint possible on the station: commercial spots, live reads, promotional sweepers, credit mentions and announcer liners – combining brand messaging with an unusual live opportunity.
Every step of the way represented the unique Hendrick’s brand personality, even sending the presenters up in the balloon to broadcast live from the Canberra skies during a hot air balloon spectacular, featuring Hendrick’s alongside approximately 25 other balloons floating over the capital.
To drive further engagement, we put the call out to Canberrans to tell Kristen and Nige which iconic Canberra location they would most like to see from the air, to go into the draw to win 1 of 4 double passes to experience this for themselves and take to the skies in the Hendrick’s Gin Hot Air Balloon.
A bespoke microsite was created for entries, hosted on SCA’s website which saw huge traffic and engagement. The competition was blasted out on air, on site and via socials to build awareness, and consideration. Incredible footage was also captured from the fantastic flight and bolstered our time in market.
The Results
- 242 Entries (against a benchmark of 50)
- 2,400 Video views on social media
- 101,000+ P25-54 reached in Canberra – 22% of the population!
This resulted in:
- +119% ACT March Sales vs. Same time last year
- +81% volume vs. March LY
- +174% ACT April Sales vs. LY
- +170% volume vs. April LY
