Hendrick's Ministry of Marginally Superior Transport
William Grant & Sons
Issue 41 | December 2016
Agency
Gravity Thinking
Creative Team
Creative Director Martyn Gooding Senior Creative Kylie Lewis Art Director Ben Carroll Designer Joana Couto Creative Technologist Tom Goldthorpe
Production Team
Production Pebble Studios
Other Credits
Head of Planning Jane Hovey Business Director Michaela Macintyre Account Director Sophie Rivet Content Planner Jess Gough Community Manager Tom Kelly Senior Brand Manager WG&S Sam Bovill Media & Experiential The Village Communications PR Splendid Communications
Date
June – August 2016
Background
Hendrick's was the world's first unusual gin, oddly infused with rose and cucumber. Unfortunately, it was such a successful brand that everyone started copying it and the marketplace became crowded with peculiar craft gins. So to get Hendrick's to stay top of mind, the task was to talk to the audience in a relevant and meaningful way.
Clever social listening made it clear that Hendrick's fans talked passionately about travel online. But there was an odd tension. While they loved travel, their everyday commutes were horrific. So horrific, in fact, that they inspired 7,000+ frustrated tweets a day. There was an opportunity to intervene and 'bring moments of peculiar delight to people's everyday journeys'.
Idea
Enter Hendrick's Ministry of Marginally Superior Transport, an unusual establishment that took over @ HendricksGinUK on Twitter, dedicated to making the dire transport situation in the UK slightly better.
Hendrick's set to work, proactively tweeting and replying to those in need with over 750 pieces of content over a two week period, under the guise of ministry officials. Personalised video replies were concepted, written, filmed, edited, and animated. Travelling cocktail kits, Frantic Air Nudgers (FANS) to keep people cool, stylish Oyster Card holders and copies of Hendrick's hilarious newspaper The Unusual Times, were sent out.
And when they had heard enough of train delays, poor etiquette and the atrocious manners on public transport, their very own cucumber shaped, cocktail laden replacement bus service was created for London & Edinburgh, fondly named H.E.R.B.E.R.T. (Hendrick's Extraordinary Roving Bus of Exceptionally Refined Travel).
Results
The campaign was the most successful William Grant & Sons had ever seen.
Hendrick's was mentioned 5X more than their big-budget rivals.
A staggering 10,800% increase in views of the launch film compared to Hendrick's previous campaigns
Consumers proactively told Hendrick's they had switched to their gin.
Consumers implored real travel companies like TFL to take their lead. In fact, for every 3 tweets South West Trains received, Hendrick's received 2.
Tickets for H.E.R.B.E.R.T sold out within minutes, prompting the team to extend the campaign
The OOH ads were so desirable, they were stolen from the bus stops.
Our Thoughts
This is what data-driven creative looks like.
But for me, more than simply identifying that people hate commuting, what is admirable about this campaign is how client and agency identified how to make a moment of pain a moment that matters, simply by making it a little nicer.
Just the idea of a large gin and tonic at the end of my journey makes my evening commute a more pleasant experience and that's what this campaign taps into.
This campaign shows a real understanding of how social media works. In real time Hendrick's is sharing sympathy and understanding with exactly the sort of smart and connected people who are most likely to enjoy a rather peculiar gin.