A brand that aims to be loved by one in a thousand gin drinkers, rather than liked by many, Hendrick’s has led the super-premium gin category for a decade. Our challenge was to enhance its super-premium positioning and reinforce its distinctiveness from more recent market entrants – without diminishing its "unusualness". Our mission was to build scale – and sales – without behaving like a mass-market brand.

We eschewed traditional above-the-line marketing channels to create a unique platform for Hendrick's that would achieve massive media cut-through, while stimulating the deepest possible engagement with target consumers and influencers.

Boldly going where other brands fear to tread, we created the ‘Hendrick's Carnival of Knowledge’, a fully-fledged festival of erudition and enlightenment comprising more than 80 separate events, staged in a fully ticketed, Hendrick's-themed immersive "world". The Carnival was truly ground-breaking, designed specifically to partner with dozens of creative collaborators, each with their own niche community, increasing the Hendrick’s audience exponentially – without sacrificing its credentials.

Hendrick's Carnival of Knowledge premiered at the Brighton Fringe in May, transferring to the Edinburgh Fringe in August, and arriving at London Cocktail Week in October.

Hendrick's Carnival of Knowledge helped generate an extraordinary 26% year-on-year growth in volume sales for Hendrick's. It drove trial with more than 8,800 spirit drinkers, and generated £58,000 profit in its own right. The campaign also helped double the number of Hendrick’s loyalists in the UK – gin drinkers who said that Hendrick’s is the only gin they drink, or almost always the first they consider.

We programmed more than 80 separate events, staged for paying visitors in a Hendrick’s-themed immersive world.

Positioned as a "travelling parlour of enlightenment", and touring a series of decadent Georgian townhouses, the Hendrick's Carnival of Knowledge featured live lectures and performances, bizarre sideshows and fine cocktails. From nonsense poetry to lizard handling, and mad science to theremin jamming, the content was unashamedly eclectic – and the setting unmistakeably Hendrick's.

Alongside teasers, content sharing and previews, we profiled our collaborators; we inspired a multitude of extraordinary features; we generated a fanfare of news for the unusual arrival of thousands of cucumbers, and polar bears. And we secured outstanding reviews.

Amid sell-out events, the success of the first Hendrick's Carnival at Brighton Fringe emboldened us to transfer to the Edinburgh Fringe in August and then London Cocktail Week in October, where key media cited it as “the most talked-about event in town”.

Commercial

· The activity helped drive an impressive 26% hike in Hendrick's’ annual volume sales – in the absence of any above-the-line marketing.

· It drove trial with more than 8,800 spirit drinkers.

· The bar sold thousands of Hendrick’s cocktails and made ?58,000 revenue.

· The campaign drove significant increases in spontaneous and prompted awareness, and helped double the number of Hendrick’s loyalists in the UK – gin drinkers who said that Hendrick’s is the only gin they drink, or almost always the first they consider (Millward Brown Global Brand Health Tracker).

Communication ?

· 213 pieces of coverage, including Monocle Radio, The Guardian and The Independent.

· It reached more than 650m people.

· Using Hendrick's owned social channels to distribute unique Carnival content, it delivered over 3,000 new @hendricksginuk followers.

· The dedicated Carnival of Knowledge hashtag #HGCK reached more than 944,000 Twitter accounts, generating over 3m impressions.