Grey Goose Prioritizes SEO, QR Codes and Experiences in Its Post-Pandemic Marketing


With COVID vaccinations rising and lockdowns lifting, many shoppers wish to recharge this summer season, in response to Martin de Dreuille, Vice President, Global Marketing for Bacardi’s Grey Goose vodka model. Grey Goose’s new “Pour Yourself Something Smooth” marketing campaign faucets into that sentiment whereas nodding to the model’s hyperlink with nature. In truth, a lot of the advertising and marketing going ahead for each the core product and the recently-unveiled Grey Goose Essences flavor-infused vodkas play up each.

But although the model, like shoppers, is raring to embrace a return to normalcy, Grey Goose will not be abandoning the pivots that helped it by way of the pandemic. “The core of the model is nature,” says de Dreuille, who particulars the origins of the one two substances of the core vodka: the wheat (“the very best wheat you should buy, from Picardy”) and the water (from a pure limestone effectively in France’s Cognac area). The model is utilizing nature as a technique to emotionally join with its audiences by way of experiences, he says.

Case in level: The marketing campaign’s advert and associated digital property don’t spell out the standard and purity of the substances or the manufacturing course of. Instead, they present a person who, as he sits on a chaise to take pleasure in a cocktail, slides out of the chair and alongside a curvaceous path in a picture-perfect panorama. “It’s not meant to painting nature however to indicate how the expertise of Grey Goose could make you’re feeling clean,” de Dreuille explains.

Paying tribute to the thrill of nature was additionally key to the spring Grey Goose Essences launch. There the marketing campaign centered on a lady being enveloped by swish whirlwinds and avalanches of flower petals and leaves. Platinum-selling singer/songwriter SZA, whose values and love of nature paired effectively with the marketing campaign, served as artistic advisor.

Beyond the advert and digital artistic, Grey Goose and SZA partnered on a reside digital live performance scheduled for July 1. The present, known as “In Bloom,” can be a high-tech, multisensory expertise the place SZA will debut music from her upcoming sophomore album, aptly-titled “Sophomore.” Those who register on the Grey Goose website to expertise the streamed occasion will obtain a reduction code for a Grey Goose Essences cocktail equipment.

In common, cocktail kits have allowed Grey Goose to compensate for an incapacity to provide experiential activations throughout the pandemic. For occasion, when the 2020 U.S. Open tennis match banned attendees, the long-time sponsor partnered with Sourced Craft Cocktails to promote a limited-edition equipment on-line in order that followers watching at dwelling might nonetheless benefit from the signature Honey Deuce cocktails that Grey Goose has offered yearly on the occasion. During the vacation season, Grey Goose added a classy replace of the Christmas sweater into the combination, promoting a limited-edition punch equipment that included a specially-designed sweatshirt by streetwear designer Anwar Carrots.

Offering these kits completely on-line was a part of Grey Goose’s elevated emphasis on digital throughout the previous 18 months. “It was vital for us to essentially enhance our digital ecosystem,” de Dreuille says. That included making certain that its companions ship a constant model expertise and bolstering its search optimization. Increases in Google searches for cocktail recipes together with Grey Goose’s optimization efforts led to an virtually 100% enhance in the model’s web optimization visitors throughout the previous yr.

Continuing with search optimization is among the prime advertising and marketing techniques de Dreuille has his eye on going ahead. Improving conversion is one other: “We’re taking the chance to have a a lot smarter strategy to our media buys and analyzing the response, whether or not search, social, TV…” A 3rd is QR codes. He asserts that QR codes on the again of the Grey Goose Essences labels, as an illustration, allow a “depth of storytelling and info” near the purpose of buy.

That’s to not say that Grey Goose is popping its again on what labored for the model pre-pandemic. TV will proceed to be necessary and “experiential will play a job, larger than in the previous two to a few years,” he says. “In the world of luxurious, experiential has an necessary position to play emotionally.”

An instance of the model’s experiential activations: the Smooth Putt mini-golf occasions in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver this summer season. Adults can reserve a tee time for 9 holes of golf on a pop-up course and sip a Grey Goose cocktail. The activation permits attendees to savor the outside whereas additionally being conscious of COVID-19 restrictions and issues. “We need to take issues very critically but additionally be playful,” he says. “We have been engaged on how we need to carry folks collectively.”

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