Stark, a totally new brand of RTD, was being launched to a target that outright rejected them. We invented a buzzword, ‘Starkish’, an adjective that embodied the same values as the brand – purity, good taste, and sophistication. To get the word onto our target’s radar, we offered top media personalities a trip to NY for the most high profile use of the word, as well as knitting ‘Starkish’ into iconic New Zealand brands. All of this ensured coverage for the word in all the right places, and meant we could launch the drink ‘Stark’ to a very receptive target market.

We invented a buzzword 'Starkfish', an adjective that embodied the same values as the brand - purity and good taste. To get the word out there we spent the whole budget on a trip to New York, which top media personalities could win for the most high profile use of the word. We also promoted Starkfish through iconic NZ brands and the starkfishdebate.blogspot.com, a weblog that seeded online debate and documented all things Starkfish. All of this ensured Starkfish a level of street cred that conventional advertising couldn't. At the peak of the Starkfish frenzy, we linked the word Starkfish and the drink Stark at an exclusive launch party.

The word inflitrated pop culture at all levels, from high fashion to bar conversations and Stark became the drink to be seen with. There was a nationwide sell-out of the product, 4.5 hours of free air time reaching 1.6million people and a 37% growth in our clients RTD sales.