To create intrigue, we held back distribution and built a unique boutique bottle store, which contained the only bottle of Platinum Label in the country, signed by Master Distiller Jim Beveridge.

The One Bottle Bottle Store was built in an upmarket shopping district in Johannesburg and featured exhibit spaces explaining the product’s heritage, bottle design and tasting notes. Consumers could lodge a bid in-store or online via a microsite, with proceeds from the winning bid going to a drunk-driving awareness charity. The store was also used as a tasting room and event venue for the launch and prize handover.

Johnnie Walker Platinum Label is a unique product in the Walker stable. This exclusive ‘private’ blend, specially created by the Walker Master Distiller, is one of the company’s only completely new product launches in decades. Its launch therefore had to be equally as exclusive and memorable. Through literally putting the product on a pedestal, we created the desired exclusivity and expectation for its imminent arrival.

Over the course of a week 2216 bids were placed, including 10 755 unique page impressions and 20 037 new fans added to the Johnnie Walker Facebook page. In fact, Facebook South Africa listed the campaign as having the highest level of engagement ever achieved in the country.

Platinum Label sold out within 3 weeks, exceeding targets by 103%, and parent company Diageo now uses the campaign globally as a Best Practice Case Study.

But most importantly the bottle of Platinum Label, which normally retails for €72, was sold for €6 370 – all of which went to charity.