Hendrick's Gin - The Great Phantasmagorical Excursion

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The craft gin market has grown exponentially over the past few years – more and more niche spirits are riding to fame on the back of their ‘small batches’ and ‘extraordinary botanicals’ all distilled in the middle of nowhere by magical pixies

Even a highly interesting and peculiar brand like Hendrick’s is having difficulty achieving stand out and staying relevant.

We were tasked with creating an immersive experience that ignited people’s curiosity and not just as part of one of their famous curious events.

"Only when I am on the brink of sleep,with the consciousness that I am so..."-Edgar Allan Poe

For inspiration, we went back to the 1800s and discovered Edgar Allan Poe’s experiments into Hypnagogia, the state of mind between the waking world and the dream one, where one can explore the depths of their imagination. Stirred by this peculiar finding, we planned a journey into people’s imaginations. – we called it ‘The Great Phantasmagorical Excursion’

The campaign kicked off with our new fangled invention – the mind reading top hats, or ‘Phantasmagorical cogitative drinking toppers’. Designed in collaboration with Ten Hertz using the Rorschach test to determine the most accessible part of your imagination, the hats could delve into your inner thoughts and then project them out of the top of the hat via a pepper’s ghost illusion.

For those unable to attend the events, an online experience was created involving a psychological test with the results showing their thoughts emanating from their minds on their computer screens. For the extraordinarily gifted, we sent out our final invention, a pair of Hendrick’s Hypnogoggles. Inspired by Google Cardboard, a drinking partner had the ability to watch a friend’s thoughts appear in front of them through the Hypnogoggles lenses.

The press received the Cogiative Drinking Toppers with entirely positive sentiment, with reviews such as ‘an incredible visual and audio experience’ ‘A phonic journey of unrivalled intrigue’ and ‘If anyone knows how to throw an event, it’s Hendrick’s Gin’. Those who recieved the Hypnagoggles tweeted and Instagrammed pictures of their experience, showing love for the brand with sentiments like “I’ve had a gintastic time’ and ‘absolutely LOVING our Hypnagoggles’. One lady wrote a blog on how the Hypnagoggles converted her to Hendrick’s: ‘It’s left me feeling like Hendricks Gin gets me and more importantly, like it’s the most natural brand choice for me’. Ultimately, this campaign created surprising moments of delightful peculiarity, turning gin-drinkers into Hendrick’s fans.