Research showed:

• Malbec is the proven best wine for red meat

• The audience eats out more than in

• 65% of conversations around red meat and wine is by men and Malbec rarely features

• 34% of Brits rate steak and chips as their favourite meal (YouGov 2014)

Brand platform:

The creative idea had to bridge the brand and the central message to its audience by targeting steak restaurants. During tastings, red wines are often described as being ‘meaty’ which led us to create:

#MeatyMalbec - A brand-owned platform to make Graffigna THE premium wine of choice for red meat

Activation:

To get the brand into restaurants we needed a vehicle so we created London’s first steak awards, where the public would nominate their favourite steak restaurants, vote to create a shortlist and an expert judging panel would decide the winner.

We launched the inaugural Graffigna London Steak Awards from the brand’s own social channels using #MeatyMalbec. London’s top 100 premium steak restaurants were personally targeted.

Rich content & promoted posts were used to extend reach, buzz & drive entries whilst four key influencers were selected as judges. Big splashes of editorial coverage (e.g. MailOnline) explained the science behind Malbec & red meat and a free partnership with Foodism ensured we got in-front of influential foodies. The 100 restaurants were shortlisted to ten which activated a public vote across social channels. Branded flyers encouraged restaurants to involve their communities and fans whilst product was delivered to target decision makers. 2k votes were cast and ten became four. Judges sampled and critiqued menus and Graffigna tastings were held with decision makers whilst content was distributed to maintain community involvement. Hawksmoor won by a whisker but Graffigna was the eventual winner.

Tier 1:

-ENGAGEMENT: 63% of the 25,000+ engagements were men and 95% from London

-DATA: +1100 new sign-ups to Graffigna’s eCRM database

-COMMUNITY GROWTH: +2,000% Twitter following; +98% Facebook fans; +583% social engagement

Tier 2:

-COVERAGE: The science behind red meat and Malbec generated coverage across target news and lifestyle media with 100% message inclusion

-INFLUENCERS: dedicated outreach delivered coverage, commentary and endorsement across premier wine and lifestyle blogs as well as a partnership with leading title Foodism

-REACH: 3M social reach and 222m editorial reach

Tier 3:

NEW RESTAURANT LISTING: A chain of 150 steak restaurants

-SALES: Graffigna was the first Malbec to feature in the meat aisle of Sainsbury’s, delivering 20+% non-promotional sales

-POSITIONED: As the ‘wine of choice for steak’ across Taylor Walker’s estate, a key on-trade customer

-DIRECT ENGAGEMENT: With 100 of London’s premium steak restaurants leading to tastings and sales meetings with decision makers