BRAND STORY, CAMPAIGN,
BRAND STRATEGY, STUDIO SERVICES
Background
Aquilini Beverage Group created a flavored whiskey to compete in the fast growing flavored whiskey category and needed a strong go-to-market strategy to bring the brand national. GAS was tasked with making this ambitious goal a reality.
The Challenge
Generate intrigue and consideration from both distributors and consumers and penetrate the flavored whiskey market.
Work
|blok.hed| [adj., n., v.(?)] 1. One oblivious to the opinions of others, usually in the pursuit of something awesome.
GAS first redefined what it meant to be a Block Head. A communications strategy was developed that focused our tone of voice and design on producing content that resonated with young millennials and new Gen Z consumers. Abandoning traditional tactics of sleekly produced product shots and high budget productions, Block Head almost exclusively produced low-fi video content reminiscent of TikToks and Instagram Reels and communicates in the language of the Internet.
Regularly partnering with influencers who fit the Block Head persona furthers along the organic and authentic elements of the brand. Every piece of content produced in-house depicts a realistic and achievable lifestyle instead of aspirational, and evergreen content always plays on a current trend or meme so that the brand remains relevant and becomes a destination to consume content that matters.
As we built the easy going brand, we soon realized that everything, from the end card to the box it came in, needed to be part of the brand story.
We quickly changed the box to be the Block Head face, with ears on either side. And we built a fun campaign inviting consumers to go to Halloween with the box on their heads.
As we continued to tie in the brand with easy breezy fun, we launched the Pumpkin Spiked Latte. Using the amateurish, influencer tone we had been cultivating, the Pumpkin Spiked Latte, a simple combination of a PSL + Block Head, generated a whopping 66% engagement rate on social media and went viral with over half a million views and 20,000 likes, shares, and saves.
Impact
In 3 short months, the brand exceeded all Year 1 sales projections. At 4 months, it earned 100 Points and Triple Gold at competition. In month 5, sales quadrupled Year 1 projections. Month 6, October, quickly became the most defining for the brand as it associated itself with Fall and Halloween.