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How Hendrick’s Gin is using social insight to craft experiential activity

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By Natalie Mortimer, N/A

July 31, 2016 | 3 min read

Hendrick’s Gin is pushing more budget towards experiential and is using insights garnered via social media to set the tone of the activity.

Hendricks

Hendricks gin

The gin brand carried out research earlier in the year to find out the passion points of its consumers and discovered that travel, and curiosity around their local neighbourhoods was a large trend. Hendricks Gin then used the insight to create a double decker bus experience named Hendricks Extraordinary Roving Bus for Exceptionally Refined Travel (H.E.R.B.E.R.T.).

The bus, which is due to travel to Edinburgh in August, provides visitors with the Hendricks Gin signature serve - Hendricks and Tonic with a slice of cucumber - cocktails and cucumber macaroons.

Speaking to The Drum, Sam Bovill, Senior Brand Manager for Hendricks UK, said that the brand wanted to have a conversation with its consumers that resonated with them, rather than trying to push a topic that Hendricks had chosen.

“We wanted to go out and have a conversation with our consumers in topics they are interested in rather than trying to create something and try hard to engage them in that conversation…The primary objective behind the campaign is to recruit more consumers into the brand by just introducing a new and wider audience to Hendricks Gin.

“Not by alienating or de-emphasising the focus on our current consumers because they are very important to us as well, but just widening the net. One of the big things that we’ve done this year is to widen the net on the experiential aspects of our campaign whereas previously we’ve kept them quite niche and only people at those events really new and understood what was going on.”

Given the rise in popularity of gin in the UK Hendricks is keen to play up its signature serve to make sure it stands out from the rest of the crowd, although Bovill added that the sheer volume of new gin brands is “fantastic” for the category as a whole.

“There are a huge number of gins launching into the category and all claiming different infusions and using botanicals in a different way. It’s actually fantastic for the category and really good for the consumer but for us it’s about maintaining who we are and staying true to the brand.

“I think we are fairly well differentiated, I think the unusual positioning that we’ve created around the brand really does that for us. Our quality of liquid we will never comprise on and we will continue to hero the cucumber serve because that compliments the infusions that we have in our gin of cucumber essence and rose petals.”

Hendricks is already working on its next “big” piece of experiential activity that will launch early next year.

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