Mount Gay Rum

Challenge

Established in 1703, Mount Gay Rum is the oldest rum and continually produced spirit in the world. Today, it is both beloved by consumers and a favorite of bartenders.

In 2016, Mount Gay recognized that bartenders across the United States were creating delicious, classically-inspired cocktails with their spirit. They also recognized that consumers were thirsty for fresh cocktail recipes to craft at home. What if consumers could access a digital database of these recipes?

The first step was for the brand’s national sales team to collect their favorite regional creations, totaling 71 recipes from 18 cities. Next, they needed to organize these drinks and capture authentic, diverse photography and video to create the Mount Gay Original Craft Cocktail Library.

Insights

Consumers largely rely upon brands to tell them what to do with their product; by creating a recipe resource on an owned brand channel, the brand site becomes a trusted source of information, giving consumers a reason to visit often and subscribe.

One of the most crucial factors when presenting recipes and corresponding imagery is consistency. Consumers expect their finished result will mirror the recipe; if not, they will doubt the authenticity of the brand and lose trust. Consistency is best achieved when all parties involved in the production are experts in the subject matter.

Solution

Recognizing that a specialized agency was needed for the task, Mount Gay Rum hired Ford Media Lab to organize and photograph the recipes, as well as source materials and unique glassware, coordinate logistics, provide talent and secure locations for a series of instructional cocktail videos.

Based on a recipe alone, FML’s in-house team of award-winning mixologists was able to decipher how the cocktail would appear if ordered from the creator – from glassware to garnish. By utilizing a photographer with unparalleled expertise in cocktails, the resulting images were authentic representations, serving to properly highlight the talent of the bartender and versatility of Mount Gay Rum.

Results

• 71 studio cocktail images, photographed for web application with white/transparent background.

• 17 lifestyle cocktail images, photographed in an award-winning cocktail bar with a variety of textures to offer the look of varied cities.

• Compilation of a master sheet of cocktail recipe data, accounting for every detail.

Redbreast Whiskey

Challenge

Some brands just have that special something. Redbreast Irish Whiskey is one of those brands; the product is phenomenal, the community is loyal, and the praise is plentiful. 

With newly-launched US social media channels, Redbreast sought to quickly recruit and engage a community that existed but was not yet following them on social media. 

How does a brand grow and foster a highly-engaged following?

Insights

Conversation drives awareness. Data suggests that the more consumers are talking about your brand on social media, the more they are purchasing your product in real life. More and more corporations are relying upon social media listening tools to measure brand favor and quantify social media ROI. 

Using specialized tools to listen to consumers leads to a deeper understanding of the sentiment around your brand, as well as consumer behaviors and trends; however, listening is only half of the process. 

Social media is social; if you’re not participating in a two-way dialogue with your consumers, you’re not running the type of social media campaign that is necessary for success in today’s competitive marketplace. The key to a brand’s growth on social media is active listening and meaningful participation.

Solution

In October 2018, Redbreast Irish Whiskey hired Ford Media Lab to manage US social media platforms and drive community engagement. FML immediately began the process of active listening, observing not just tags and replies, but all brand mentions across multiple platforms. Users received timely and thoughtful responses, designed to create a meaningful conversation.

The expanding community began to rally, posting calls to action to follow the brand channels and sharing praise for the personalized engagement. Listening to the consumer preferences and behaviors allowed content to be tailored to resonate with the target demographic, further driving engagement. 

Redbreast’s social channels grew in following while activating a community of passionate brand loyalists.

Results

Over an eight-month period of active listening and engagement:

• Followers increased by 31.5%

• Message Volume increased by 1,683%

• Total Impressions increased by 82.2%

• Engagements increased by 423.8%

Poor Man’s Kitchen

Challenge

Poor Man’s Kitchen developed a game-changing bar tool that would solve a critical pain point for bartenders around the world. In hopes of funding production, PMK sought to launch a Kickstarter Campaign for their Kilpatrick Fine Strainer. Armed with just one prototype, PMK needed compelling imagery and dynamic video to virtually demonstrate the functionality and design.

Insights

Kickstarter uses an “all or nothing” funding model, meaning that funds are not collected unless a project meets its goal, yet statistics show that only 36.84% of Kickstarter campaigns receive funding.

The most successful products highlight a pain point and demonstrate how they serve as the solution. Without a tangible product for consumers to hold, it is imperative that the product speaks for itself through visual elements.

Solution

Poor Man’s Kitchen hired Ford Media Lab to create dynamic assets for use in the Kickstarter campaign, public relations outreach and social media. 

After identifying the key uses of the product, FML drafted a story board and captured professional photography of the Kilpatrick Fine Strainer in use. The still imagery was then compiled into a 60-second animated video, incorporating text to tell the story of the product and it’s purpose.

Utilizing these visual assets, Poor Man’s Kitchen was able to launch their Kickstarter campaign, pitch the product to media and share content to their social media channels. The project was fully funded, and production is now underway.

Results

• Delivery of 33 still images, showcasing the Kilpatrick Fine Strainer and its practical application

• Creation of 1 60-second animated video, utilizing the product stills and text

• PMK’s Kickstarter campaign raised $41,057 (well exceeding the goal of $25,000) toward product production of the Kilpatrick Fine Strainer

• PMK was able to expand their product offering to include a copper finish model

Links

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/poormanskitchen/poor-mans-kitchen-kilpatrick-fine-strainer

https://www.liquor.com/articles/poor-mans-kitchen-kilpatrick-fine-strainer/#gs.mokwr8

https://www.elledecor.com/life-culture/food-drink/a26418021/george-carney-cocktail-mixing-interview/

BeMixed / Swoon

Challenge

Swoon is a new-to-market, zero-calorie simple syrup. In order to launch their shoppable site in 2019, Swoon needed high-quality commercial photography that would reflect the ethos of their brand.

Insights

According to e-commerce platform, Shopify, “quality product images are a key driver of store engagement, conversion and retention, and overall customer lifetime value.”

Companies spend countless hours designing a brand; the product photography should mirror quality of the product and packaging. Investing in attractive, professional product photography is a critical component of a brand’s sales success.

Solution

Ford Media Lab was hired to create commercial photography for Swoon’s website, featuring five various product packages – from bottles to boxes.

Beginning with FML’s proven techniques for capturing the most stunning packaging photography, the resulting Pantone color-matched images served as a beautiful representation of the Swoon product line.

Results

• 5 high-resolution white-background/transparent images, all shot at 42MP at FML’s commercial photography studio.

• Post-production included Pantone color-matching for precision and consistency.

Plymouth Gin

Challenge

Plymouth Gin is a 226-year-old heritage gin brand distilled in Plymouth, England. Known for its superb mixability in cocktails, Plymouth is beloved by bartenders and consumers alike. 

In 2017, Plymouth Gin’s US-based team sought to present a more premium aesthetic on Instagram – one that would be more befitting of its product. The previous model had been to create content at one-off shoots and events and the look and quality was not consistent. In order to visually tell the story of the brand, its application and its consumers, Plymouth needed a strategic solution. How could they find a sustainable source of quality content to visually tell the brand story?

Insights

In today’s digital world, many brands mistakenly believe that they have a content problem. While not having content is a problem, the larger problem is not having a strategy for creating and distributing content.

The traditional agency model relies upon outsourcing creative services to freelance partners on a project basis. When creating content is viewed as a series of individual projects, the result can be both expensive and inconsistent. Additionally, to present a variety of images, multiple environments (and multiple shoots) are often required.

Few agencies create content fully in-house, which means that few brands can rely upon just one source for content.

Solution

In October 2017, Plymouth Gin hired Ford Media Lab for full-service social media management and 100% in-house content creation. After developing a strategic content plan to align with the brand’s consumer engagement platform, the first step was to archive all existing content and immediately begin populating the grid with fresh imagery in a white-border, gallery format. All photography was captured by FML, shot in a consistent style and edited for coherence.

Recognizing that bartenders were unapologetic advocates for the brand, FML utilized their contacts, as well as Plymouth’s global brand ambassador team, to coordinate the capture of content featuring the trade across the US and in the UK. By incorporating bartenders and their drinks into the content strategy, Plymouth Gin celebrated its brand champions while highlighting how they use the product. 

Bartenders and consumers began engaging with the content at a higher rate, sharing recipes and inspiring a recipe story highlight to collect and share practical uses of Plymouth Gin. The content was both sustainable and renewable, as the brand received on-going interest in participation and referrals to additional content sources.

Because FML was solely responsible for content, they were available to accommodate and react to cultural trends and on-the-fly requests, allowing the look and feel of the page to adapt in real time.

Results

From October 2017 to June 2019:

• 3.4m impressions

• 108.5K engagements

• 3.2% engagement rate per impression

• Obtainment of blue verification checkmark on Instagram

• A library of nearly 300 professionally-edited, consistent images of varied subject matter for multi-purpose brand use

• A collection of brand testimonials and cocktail recipes straight from the strongest brand advocates

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

Beefeater Gin

Challenge

While the flagship Beefeater Gin Instagram account was widely followed with over 65K followers, the Beefeater Gin US team sought to establish their own brand presence on social media. Due to a successful global initiative, quality user-generated-content was plentiful, and the page was shaping up to visually represent the ethos of the brand; however, at just over 1,000 followers, it was not getting adequate exposure to grow the following. 

Sponsored posts were proving to add value by way of reach and brand awareness, but while users were engaging with the content, they were largely not opting to follow the page.

This newly-established US social channel needed more than just great content to attract followers; they needed to add value.

Insights

According to a 2019 report by social media management platform, Sprout Social, Instagram has nearly 2 million monthly advertisers, and Instagram ads are expected to account for nearly a quarter of all of Facebook’s ad revenue by the end of the year. With so much content ­– particularly sponsored content – posted daily on social media, it’s simply not enough to share and expect results. With the lack of a “follow now” ad button, even sharing a promoted post is not enough to grow following; users need to first click through and then follow – that’s two barriers to entry. 

To drive interest on social media, brands need to give users a reason to care. Users follow brands because of the perceived value that they add: the content makes them feel good, inspires them, or offers something they desire. One of the most effective ways to add value is to offer a giveaway or contest.

Link to report: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/instagram-stats/

Link to Sprout: https://sproutsocial.com/social-media-management/

Solution

Beefeater Gin hired Ford Media Lab to ideate a sweepstakes concept and create accompanying lifestyle content to promote a custom denim jacket giveaway for two occasions: Galentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. FML introduced Beefeater to It’s By Sam, an artist-based customization company specializing in creating personalized apparel and accessories for luxury and contemporary brands alike. It’s By Sam was commissioned to customize pairs of Levi’s denim jackets to be offered in an Instagram giveaway. Entrants simply followed the page and commented on the announcement post, tagging a friend (Galentine’s Day) or mother figure (Mother’s Day) to enter. To be eligibile, the friend also had to follow the page.

By offering the sweepstakes, requiring users to follow to enter, and promoting the announcement posts, Beefeater Gin was able to grow the Instagram following over the two giveaways by 20% and 12% respectively, increase reach by over 550% and achieve an average engagement rate of over 10%.

Link for @itsbysam IG: https://www.instagram.com/itsbysam/

Results

Contest 1 Post Data: 

• 272 new followers (+20% increase in followers)

• Impressions 150,100 

• Reach 116,100 

• Engagement rate 13.58%

• Average Engagement on Reach per post 17.01%

Contest 2 Post Data:

• 256 new followers (+12% increase in followers)

• Impressions 191,300 

• Reach 144,700 

• Engagement rate 7.20% 

• Average Engagement on Reach per post 13.20%

Amaro Montenegro

Challenge

Amaro Montenegro is an established Italian brand that has become a favorite of the hospitality industry. When the brand learned of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry that had shown them such support, they knew that they needed to do something to help.

First, they made an immediate monetary donation to the USBG Bartender Emergency Assistance Program in the amount of $10,000. To qualify, applications would need to be reviewed before grants would be awarded. Recognizing that out-of-work individuals needed help immediately, Amaro Montenegro sought a plan to make an additional monetary impact in real time.

Insights

Typically, when brands run campaigns, they may hire influencers to raise awareness and amplify the reach of their message; these influencers are selected for their influence and/or the content that they produce. Influencers are paid for their involvement, content and influence. Historically, spirit brands have been hesitant to enter into paid partnerships or endorsements with working bartenders due to favoritism concerns in our three-tier system.

 In March, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the shutdown of bars and restaurants nationwide. In April, Business Insider estimated that 8 million restaurant workers are now unemployed as a result of the pandemic.

With an astounding number of the workforce unemployed, these former hospitality employees are now eligible to partner with spirit brands. As a result, beverage alcohol companies have a unique opportunity to hire non-working bartenders as influencers, for which payment can be made directly to the individual.

Solution

Amaro Montenegro hired Ford Media Lab to ideate and implement a campaign designed to raise awareness for the USBG Bartender Emergency Assistance Program while directly supporting members of the trade community in real time. 

The Campaign: For every use of the hashtag #MonteForGood, Amaro Montenegro pledged to donate $5 to the USBG Bartender Emergency Assistance Program.

The Mechanism: FML captured a striking image of iconic Amaro Montenegro glasses for use in the campaign, and a landing page was created to house the terms, offer more information, and provide resources to those affected. Additionally, the campaign image was available as a free download in various sizes for sharing across social media platforms.

The Influencers: To promote the charitable initiative, 200 non-working trade would be hired to share the image and a call to action to encourage others to share. As compensation, each trade influencer would receive $200, paid within 48 hours of posting. The influencers were not selected by the brand; influencers would nominate each other to spread the reach nationwide to those in need.

Results

• 3,600+ shares and hashtag uses of #MonteForGood to raise awareness and support for the hospitality industry, generating a participatory charitable donation in the amount of $18,000.

• In total, $28,000 in charitable donations awarded by Amaro Montenegro to the USBG Bartender Emergency Assistance Program.

• $40,000 paid directly to 200 non-working trade members across 29 states (including Puerto Rico), with a combined Instagram following of 240,000+ and an estimated hyper-targeted reach of 86,000+ people with a $.47 cost per goodwill result.
  

Amaro Montenegro

Challenge

In 2020, Amaro Montenegro launched its first consumer focused campaign to increase brand awareness and engagement through a CTA to redesign the iconic bottle. In order to make the campaign a success, Amaro Montenegro sought an agency partner to manage and execute influencer promotion, a paid ad campaign, social media integration, entry management and a unique campaign website.

Insights

Just like the brand itself, the Amaro Montenegro community is curious and adventurous. The goal of the campaign would be to support the artist community through a grant competition which will award 3 emerging artists $2,500. To make the campaign a success, a comprehensive launch and promotion plan would be needed.

Solution

FML was engaged to execute the campaign and competition from start to finish. Amaro Montenegro partnered with 3 established artist influencers to create Montenegro inspired artwork, which was used to promote the competition via social media and a paid ad campaign. The campaign ran nationally (U.S.) over a 120-day period and was promoted via social media.

The Influencers: With various mediums and a combined following of 650K, artists were identified and tasked with the creation of original Amaro Montenegro artwork, as well as a series of social media posts to drive entires. FML created the influencer brief and managed the project, including traveling to three states to capture content with the artists for Amaro Montenegro’s social media channels and managing KPIs.

The Promotion: FML created a unique site to house terms and conditions, as well as detail the campaign and collect submissions. A successful social media rollout was ideated and executed, along with a paid media campaign.

The Competition: FML managed entry submissions, exceeding the entry goal by 350%.

Results

• 70 viable competition entries, 350% over goal of 20

• 16K page views to unique competition site

• Influencer campaign results: 511K reach, 556K impressions and 1.2K link clicks.

• Organic social media results: 1.1M reach, 1.3M impressions and 2.5K link clicks.

• Paid promotion results: 2.5M reach, 9.4M impressions, 20K engagements and 8K link clicks.
  

Absolut Vodka

Challenge

In anticipation of social and digital needs for the fiscal year ahead, Absolut Vodka sought to capture an entire years’ worth of content up-front. Based upon seasonality and cultural moments, Absolut identified a variety of themes and events that would be relevant to the brand’s marketing efforts. In order to maximize the versatility of the images, they developed a brief for the project, which outlined highly curated scenes with a variety of Absolut products and serves, shot to be cropped in a wide range of aspect ratios.

Insights

Brands often struggle to meet seasonal content needs, leading to last minute shoots, rush fees, and/or missed marketing opportunities. Content shoots take time and planning to execute; in order to anticipate seasonal or long-term needs, much foresight is needed.

To allow for content creation and processing lead time, seasonality may prohibit the ease at which an outdoor or holiday shoot, for example, can be executed. Depicting Fall leaves in May, snow in September or a picnic in January present logistical issues that can be costly to solve. Additionally, staging specific, well-developed themes may require unique set builds, time and a large team; whereas individual, one-off shoots may seem more easily executed, but the result can be limited. Additionally, one-off shoots can often be expensive in the long run, yielding assets with too little variance, either in appearance and/or in versatility of application.

Image versatility does not just apply to aesthetic; each use case presents a different size need, which is best anticipated on-set. Most images for social media work within a set handful of aspect ratios or crops; as long as the image fits within a social media platform’s parameter, images will post in such a manner that crops to display, but allows for full image viewing when expanded. For digital applications – like web banners and email campaigns, for example – the desired aspect ratios are widely varied. In addition, if text overlay is desired for a slogan, call to action or promotion, space must allow for text overlay.

In short, an image that works well/looks amazing for one application may lack the versatility for another application. Unless scenes are framed with this in mind, content needs could arise with each new usage.

Solution

Absolut Vodka hired Ford Media Lab to capture an entire years’ worth of digital content in one photoshoot.

• Holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Winter Celebrations, New Year’s Eve

• Sports: Basketball/Football/Baseball, both at home viewing and Tailgate

• Cultural Moments and Themes: Brunch, Festival Season, Home Entertainment, LGBTQ/PRIDE

FML determined that the best course of action would be to shoot over four days, each day including 2-3 scenes/unique sets, with a variety of props, serves and talent. Following FML’s extensive pre-production planning – including mood boards and prop selection – FML assembled a highly-skilled team of prop, wardrobe, food and beverage stylists. Two NYC locations were identified: Ford Media Lab’s studio in Brooklyn and an outdoor space in Manhattan. A detailed shot list was compiled to include still and GIF deliverables, accounting for various Absolut products, cocktail serves and desired aspect ratios.

Results

• 11 seasonal and holiday themes captured over 4 shoot days in 2 locations

• 65 still images / 10 GIFs, each delivered as:

  • 1x1

  • 9x16

  • Web banner