Beefeater Gin

Challenge

To celebrate Negroni Week 2019, Beefeater Gin set out to launch the third 2019 “Drink with Your Eyes” cocktail competition for eligible residents of the US and UK. The competition would entail creating an original take on the classic Negroni cocktail and posting an image to Instagram with the recipe. Entries would be tracked based upon specific hashtags used and winners stood to win up to $2,000 or £1,500.

The competition would be promoted natively on the Beefeater Gin channels, as well as through paid influencer posts. The influencer campaign for the previous round had not yielded the results that they’d hoped for and the fate of the competition was on the line. They needed to increase both the campaign reach and volume of entries received for the contest to be deemed a success.

Insights

Influencer marketing can be a massive driver of campaign success – if executed correctly. Users identify with sponsored content that is authentic and meaningful; there must be an element of trust between the influencer and their audience, making it increasingly important to select the correct influencer and posting cadence for the campaign.

Users are bombarded with ad posts on social media, and the over-saturation has increased the number of touchpoints required to achieve ROI. Additionally, it’s widely speculated that only 10% of an account’s followers are organically shown their content, increasing the need to promote posts to ensure that content is seen, and results are earned. If it is to be assumed that only a fraction of the influencer’s audience will be exposed to the content and one touch is not enough, what’s truly needed is not just an influencer campaign, it’s an influencer strategy.

Solution

Beefeater Gin hired Ford Media Lab to create an international influencer campaign to promote contest participation in the US and UK. The influencer strategy was based upon 3 factors: broad audience targeting, repeat exposure and multi-channel reach.

First, seven creators with various levels and spheres of influence were selected to create and share original content. Given that the contest was open to home enthusiasts, the target audience was not limited to cocktail influencers; instead, contributors were considered across multiple niches that would appeal to potential entrants.
Second, the campaign deliverables were intentionally timed for ongoing exposure. Influencers were tasked with posting in-feed and story content at dates throughout the contest. If willing, they were encouraged to promote their posts, and their content was shared and promoted on the native Beefeater channels to push potential entrants through the funnel.

As an added driver, influencers were tapped for their influence outside of Instagram, including radio and owned sites. By utilizing multiple channels to drive interest and traffic, reach goals were exceeded by nearly 500% and the competition saw an increase in entries of 367%!

Results

• 654K total impressions (exceeded goal by 436%)

• 491K total reach (exceeded goal by 491%)

• 66 contest submissions