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2011 Gold Best design or art direction

01 Dec 2011

Client The Glenmorangie Company

What is wonderful about this work? We told The Ardbeg Committee that a new Alligator was emerging from the deep south of Islay. Bottles were snapped up in their thousands, selling out in 28 days. The feedback was so positive that Alligator has been rolled out worldwide, targeting the valuable bourbon market.

What details of the strategy make this a winning entry? Ardbeg is a peaty Islay whisky, a brand that's keen to attract different whisky palates and take advantage of the growth of the bourbon market (which is attracting many younger drinkers and predicted to grow by 25% in the UK by 2016). The Ardbeg Committee - our CRM programme - forges an esprit de corps between 65,000 members in 141 countries and spreads the Ardbeg word. They're gaining a younger profile (drinkers who have 'graduated' to the peatier, more challenging malts). We got them to trial a new bottling named Ardbeg Alligator (with a spicy bite, designed to appeal to the bourbon fan). Bourbon, from the deep south of America, is stored in flame-blasted barrels - a 'number 4 char' results in wood resembling an alligator's hide. Using these barrels we created Ardbeg Alligator. To gauge reaction we launched with an online mock-croc documentary featuring an islander who recalled a time when the ferocious Islay-gator roamed Islay.

How did creativity bring the strategy to life? It's our duty to provide Ardbeggian evangelists with regular news and entertaining communications, written in Ardbeg's quirky 'committee-speak'. Research showed that a small alligator-like creature had been discovered in the Highlands in 1894... which we parlayed into a legendary Islay creature called the Islay-gator, "a creature much more ferocious than its cousins in Florida". Committee members received an email inviting them to see the short 'Croc-mentary' and leaf through the 'The Islay-gator's Tale' to see long-lost images of alligators on Islay. They were then directed to the shop, where the bottling came with a poem blurring the lines between whisky and alligators. As our mock-croc documentary was played through YouTube, we had the opportunity to gain extra reach from non-Committee members.

Results The bottling was a sell-out. Half the stock, allocated to Germany, sold out within 28 days, while the rest sold out in just 11 days. We achieved an open rate of 51.91% and click-through of 48.46%. The average dwell time was 12 minutes. Half our views came through YouTube showing word of mouth and a worldwide buzz. During the month of the launch there was a 312% increase in Committee registrations. The pilot paved the way for a worldwide general release of 60,000 bottles and future segmentation and targeting of bourbon drinkers and the valuable bourbon market.

Judge's comment:"This work put a smile on all the judges' faces. It was a clear winner. The whole campaign is beautifully crafted online and offline." Cordell Burke, Balloon Dog

Team Dave Mullen - Creative Director, Rebecca McFarland - Creative Partner, Olivia Donaldson - Head of Copy, Caroline Cairns - Senior Account Manager, Lynsey Thomson - Account Executive, Manos Riglis - Digital Director, Graham Robb - Head of Studio, Hamish Torrie - Brands Director, Allan Little - Senior Brand Manager

Other contributors David Boni - Director, Kirk Hendry (Th1ng) - Animator

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