When marketers aren’t talking about authenticity, they’re talking about the need to gather first-party data.
A new campaign from Bombay Sapphire, which launched on Wednesday with spokesperson and “Elvis” director Baz Luhrmann, involves both.
With the “Saw This, Made This” campaign, Bombay Sapphire is combining influencer-led social media interactions with the goal of building a loyal customer base that’s (hopefully) willing to share personal information.
Bombay Sapphire is looking to generate the kind of lift in brand awareness and affinity that can lead users to intentionally opt into future promotional efforts.
Data gathering
The campaign includes placements across social media, TV, CTV, streaming video-on-demand and out-of-home.
The ads invite audiences to create before-and-after photos and videos showing their real-life source of inspiration, then post the creative output it inspired using the hashtag #SawThisMadeThis.
Although gathering first-party data isn’t the primary objective, Bombay Sapphire is looking for social media engagement that leads to email sign-ups.
“All of our media assets will drive traffic to a landing page where people can sign up to learn more about us or submit their creative output,” said Jaime Keller, brand director for Bombay Sapphire in the US. “Any information we capture, we will use to communicate with them in the future.”
Targeting and measurement
To target its campaign, Bombay Sapphire is using contextual signals through publisher partnerships and its own proprietary audience segments, such as so-called “expressionists,” or people who are predisposed to seeking new experiences and inspiration.
It’s also using lookalike modeling to attract prospective gin enthusiasts, Keller said.
But as an alcohol brand, Bombay Sapphire has to be extra careful about brand safety and suitability for all of its ad placements.
“We only focus on advertising on LDA [Legal Drinking Age]-compliant channels and platforms,” Keller said. “And we follow a DISCUS [Distilled Spirits Council] protocol, which requires 72% of the audience to be age 21 or older.”
KPIs for the campaign include brand awareness, perception and consideration, Keller said.
Bombay Sapphire has established pre-flight baselines for each of these KPIs and will work with an external research agency, MetrixLab, to evaluate the campaign’s impact through surveys and panels.
The brand will also track reach, frequency and views, Keller said.
Crowd-sourced creativity
In the US, Bombay Sapphire’s CTV strategy will include HBO Max, Peacock and Hulu, Keller said.
Out-of-home campaigns will run in Times Square in New York City and The Grove in Los Angeles. The social media plan includes Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.
Luhrmann is featured as the campaign’s creative director, and the campaign concept is credited to him. Throughout the campaign, Luhrmann and Bombay Sapphire will spotlight select submissions from the audience on social media.
The potential for recognition from a renowned filmmaker and the exposure that comes with it are the incentives for participation, rather than a promotional giveaway, Keller said.
Submissions will also be featured on a dedicated landing page, with plans to showcase the content next year in April during World Creativity Day and in art exhibits hosted in London and New York.
To get the ball rolling on submissions, Bombay Sapphire tasked a global roster of mixologist influencers with designing unique gin cocktails inspired by the cities they work in. The brand is also encouraging its fans, followers and the influencers in its network to share their own creations.
“We’ll partner with influencers to amplify their output,” Keller said. “What’s most important is finding authentic collaborators to work with, so that their message is authentic, and that authenticity ladders back to our brand message.”
Bombay Sapphire worked with partners, including its media partner OMD and ad agency AMV BBDO, to develop its campaign strategy over the course of two years.
The campaign, which launched on Wednesday, will run until at least next April across the US, UK, Spain, Italy, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Greece and the Netherlands.
