To be successful in an age of evolving consumers, DIAGEO knew they had to restructure and revitalize the brand, and carve out a place in the crowded whiskey marketplace for I.W. Harper to define its distinct cultural community. In turn, I.W. Harper embraced a consumer segment not currently heavily marketed to by other bourbon brands – a younger generation of multicultural tastemakers. These consumers appreciate style, travel, artistic expression and a commitment to hospitality – they are true Modern Renaissance men and women.

To rebuild the brand from the ground up and engage this segment, I.W. Harper created a social influencer program and enlisted cultural influencers already leading stylish, sophisticated lives. The program, dubbed Live Like Mr. Harper, provided experiences and education befitting a Modern Renaissance man or woman. In turn, these influencers documented their experiences via social media to their followers, spotlighting I.W. Harper and the lifestyle it represents.

Our great eight were provided with a variety of authentic, I.W. Harper-worthy experiences to inspire best in class content creation. From holiday whiskey tastings at top I.W. Harper accounts (delighting local market sales reps that leveraged the events to move product) to summer style grooming outings at local barbershops and boutiques, the team created must-share moments our influencers (and thousands of their followers) shared over and over. We leveraged DIAGEO’s iconic Whiskey Educator program to ensure our crew was armed with plenty of whiskey information, but allowed our influencers complete creative control over voice, tone and imagery to ensure transparency and authenticity.

As the program gained traction among our target cultural community and local sales reps reported increased interest in their markets, DIAGEO invested incremental funding in Live Like Mr. Harper. The program expanded to 19 influencers across the United States.

The Live Like Mr. Harper social influencer program has been vital to the overall growth of I.W. Harper Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey including:

- A burgeoning Instagram community with an average monthly growth rate of 17.7%

- The creation of more than 200 original pieces of social content with a handsome engagement rate of 1.8% (nearly double the rate of benchmark branded campaigns)

- Substantial reach of 32 million social media impressions

- A steady flow of traditional PR leads netting 211 million earned media impressions

- Additional funding and requests for Live Like Mr. Harper programming from 12 secondary U.S. regions eager to become primary distribution hubs

However, perhaps the most impactful result is the qualitative feedback from the cultural community we’ve embraced. Following the debut of public radio’s documentary “Where Are The Black People in Bourbon?” which examined why people of color, by and large, were left out of “America’s Native Spirit” when it came to history and marketing, producer Ashlie Stevens commented that I.W. Harper has been changing the landscape when it comes to bourbon by presenting a more diverse – and realistic – depiction of the typical bourbon consumer.

We’ll drink to that.