Helping William Grant & Sons drive sales and brand awareness for its low alcohol spirit through an integrated PR, Digital & Influencer campaign

Our brief

William Grant & Sons wanted us to secure brand fame for Atopia as a gin alternative, amongst an audience of female moderators and wellbeing enthusiasts. One of the key challenges for the no and low alcohol spirit market was taste perception and how exactly alcohol alternatives should be consumed. With taste credentials on par with premium gins, we needed a way to make Atopia accessible for a mass audience.

What we did

We knew attitudes towards wellbeing were changing and that the self care conversation in 2020 was up 344% compared to the previous year. Looking after yourself had never been more important and using this insight we positioned Atopia as a gin alternative to make moderating alcohol consumption easy and enjoyable.

To drive mass awareness we elisted former Saturdays star and mental health advocate Frankie Bridge as Atopia's first ever celebrity ambassador. The relatable star had become a champion of self care thanks to her Sunday Times best seller Open and her hit podcast Open Mind. We brokered a year long partnership with Frankie to open up the conversation about moderation and challenge the taste perceptions of low alcohol.

With Frankie onboard we developed a communications campaign that tapped into moderation occasions to show consumers how easy it is to swap in Atopia for gin to create the brand's hero serve - the A&T (Atopia & Tonic). Over the course of a year we managed all PR, Social Media, ambassador and Influencer output as well as all content creation.

We launched the campaign announcing Frankie as Atopia's ambassador, opening up the moderation conversation to consumers via media interviews along with competitions and content on Frankie and Atopia's social channels.

We then focused on three key moments for the rest of the campaign to drive awareness of the brand and its hero serve, support promotions and sales in Waitrose and grow an online community of mindful moderators.

In October 2020 we launched the Month of Moderation, that saw us challenge consumers to moderate with a social mechanic - Simply Switch - switching out their favourite tipple for Atopia. Throughout the month we communicated the benefits of moderation, offered prizes for simply switch UGC and encouraged trial for the brand with coinciding promotions at Waitrose and Sainsburys.

In January 2021, after nearly a year of social distancing and seperation from friends, we showed how easy it is to take on the challenge of Dry Jan when you have your friends behind you - wherever they may be. We created 'Pass It On' to lead the campaign, a video mashup of four reality TV star friends and Frankie passing a bottle of Atopia between them and showing just how easy it was to make and enjoy the A&T. This was supported posts on Frankie's channels, earned influencer gifting, competitions and a paid campaign.

In June 2021 as restrictions lifted, we used insight on increased social anxiety amongst consumers to launch a Summer Without Compromise. This phase of the campaign encouraged consumers to make the most of summer through moderation with Atopia - without compromising on taste or the social drinking experience. This was amplified with a second 'Pass It On' video, content with Frankie, earned influencer gifting, competitions and a paid campaign.

To provide further longevity we secured lead sponsorship for Frankie's podcast 'Open Mind', featuring celebrities such as Ellie Goulding, Russell Kane and Fleur East discussing mental health. From June to September 2021 we were able to further position Atopia in the wellbeing space and highlighted the benefits of moderation in self care.

Results