First, we spent a lot of time working with the brand to identify our target consumer in the UK. This involved creating a persona for the typical Inverroche customer we wanted to communicate with, and interrogating this in partnership with the brand. We identified [include target customer specifics here] as our target customer which led the direction of our tone of voice and visual communication style.
Our target customer’s go-to channels to discover and engage with brands were [insert channels]. So we centered our social media marketing strategy around those, making sure it conveyed luxury visually and the right messages.
We then targeted online retailers based on who their customers were (do they match our profile?) and on their ability to deliver Inverroche’s brand image and messages in the same way. These were all retailers we knew we could work with to deliver a bespoke activation. That’s how we made sure we had a meaningful say in the marketing communications. X retailers in our list were interested in promoting Inverroche which they fit into their marketing schedules.
The Savannah
The Savannah is a chain of South African shops in London. The chain listed the products in their 5 stores and online. We developed a multi-channel campaign across their website, email and social media with them to support the launch. It included:
- A social media competition with their 2300 followers
- A digital product promotional banner on their homepage and spirits page featuring the Inverroche gin range
- A solus email marketing campaign, that was to their 15000 subscribers announcing the launch.
- Repurposing and promoting all these activations on the Inverroche UK social media accounts to extend reach
Gin & Jones
Gin & Jones is a gin subscription service with 150 subscribers. We activated the Inverroche launch by focusing on 42 of their best customers. We sent them a full bottle of Inverroche Amber Gin as well as miniatures of the other SKUs for sampling. Gin & Jones listed Inverroche Amber Gin on their website. That meant that their subscribers and the general public could purchase bottles. We worked with Gin & Jones to also include it in their 2020 Christmas hampers to capitalize on the Christmas gifting market.
The Whisky Exchange
The Whisky Exchange is the largest online specialist retailer of whiskies and fine spirits in the world. We worked with them to feature Inverroche in their top 10 gins in November 2020. The retailer shares their spirits of the month with a newsletter. Their November newsletter featured Inverroche and reached their 200,000 email subscribers. We also worked with Inverroche’s brand ambassador, Billy Abbott, to produce a video tasting to support the activation.
We supported the Inverroche launch at these retailers with an online PR and social media campaign:
Online PR
We obtained a review of Inverroche Classic Gin in the Gin Guide, a global, independent resource for trade and consumers with 98,000 followers. We worked with Lorna Scott, Inverroche’s founder, to produce a video interview featured on the review. Inverroche Classic Gin was also the Gin Guide’s gin of the week. Visitors can purchase the spirit through Master of Malt and Amazon from the review. The Gin Guide promoted it in their newsletter reaching 2,000 gin lovers and trade professionals around the world. And we organised a social media competition to their followers. It reached 23,000 people and generated 802 entries.
At its heart, Inverroche Classic Gin is very satisfyingly fitting of its ‘Classic’ title, while the delicate use of native botanicals neatly connects it with its source and story. – Paul Jackson, 2020 (https://www.theginguide.com/inverroche-classic-gin.html)
We also held an online virtual tasting via our own tasting platform SippingRooms.com. 50 gin influencers attended the tasting as well as over 150 consumers. During the tasting, the engaged audience learnt about the gins and the story of the distillery from Inverroche brand ambassador Bo Devereau and founder Lorna Scott. We reached 200k people with our pre and post-event social media campaign.
Alex Farnell from Inverroche described the event as “outstanding!”
Social media
We built brand awareness for Inverroche on social media. We targeted a dedicated following of consumers who enjoy the finer things to connect them to the African luxury way of life. We created a stylised feed with a beautiful mix of imagery. The objective was to tell the Inverroche brand story through lifestyle images and graphical posts. The content balanced four content pillars
- Heart of the pioneer (30%) – Convey brand heritage and the Inverroche story. Promoting creativity and authenticity
- Taste of the Pioneer (30%) – Showcasing exciting drinks experiences being enjoyed in a variety of serves and occasions
- Pioneering in African Luxury (20%) – Positioning Inverroche as the most distinctive, most desirable, luxury gin brand in Africa
- The Pioneering Spirit (20%) – Shining a spotlight on the stories of exciting and inspiring pioneers, aligning their narrative to that of Inverroche
We also ran paid social campaigns across Instagram and Facebook targeting those with interests such as luxury goods, theatre, Fortnum & Mason, Harvey Nichols, Wine tasting, art and events.
We engaged our social media influencers to extend the reach of our content as well. We also increased our exposure through Brand Partner Collaborations.
