William Grant & Sons (WGS) recently ran a global travel retail campaign linked to Valentine’s Day to celebrate Hendrick’s and its ‘odd’ infusion of rose and cucumber.
Activations took place in airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Barcelona, Changi, Madrid, Geneva, Colombo and Dubai. Passengers enjoyed free roses, gift bags and a ‘peculiar’ guide to romance.
At Changi Airport, WGS dressed Hendrick’s bottles with neck collars while Brand Ambassadors handed out roses and ‘The Essence of Love’ pocket guides as gifts-with-purchase.
At Geneva Airport, an existing bar was branded with Hendrick’s visuals and featured the messaging: ‘Cultivate love in a most peculiar way’. Customers who purchased a bottle received a free gift bag decorated with roses and repeating the brand message.
Colombo Airport saw a Hendrick’s rose themed archway on entrance and exit to the Flemingo departure store. ‘Essence of Love’ pocket guides were also handed out to shoppers.
Poetry from the ‘Essence of Love’ guide was recited by sales promoter Eileen to passengers travelling through Edinburgh, further bringing the curious activation to life.
Gift bags were available in selected locations including Heathrow, Gatwick, Barcelona, Madrid, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stansted and Geneva. Sampling also took place in various locations in the week running up to ‘the big day’ as well as on 14 February. This included BA lounges from 14 to 16 February in T5 First, T3 First and Concord.
WGS Head of Marketing GTR Ifan Jenkins said: “This is the first time that we have used Valentine’s Day as a lever to promote Hendrick’s, but given its infusion of rose (and cucumber), it seems an obvious connection. We don’t have any sales data back as yet, but feedback from passengers was excellent – everyone loving the gift bags, roses and Essence of Love pocket guides.
“Our various retail partners involved in the activations were very supportive and helped us to create really meaningful and memorable experiences for consumers all over the world.”
The Valentine’s Day promotion comes ahead of the annual World Cucumber Day on 14 June, which sees Hendrick’s gin hero the fruit by inspiring people all over the world to cultivate and grow their personal cucumber. Details on World Cucumber Day celebrations in global travel retail will be revealed soon.
