Bombay Sapphire launched and revolutionised the gin category, making it stylish, aspirational and cool. Over time it established itself as a beautiful, premium brand. However it was admired from afar. Despite its strong image the brand lacked the clear point of view and personality required to connect with their target consumers at a deeper level. As a result the brand was experiencing a loss of engagement, with consumers questioning its substance.In September 2010 Bombay Sapphire launched this new brand idea in a way which didn’t simply tell people they were imaginative, but sparked conversations and encouraged reactions by demonstrating they were. This mindset led to their first projection which introduced the new brand idea to internal stakeholders. The film of this projection was shared on Facebook and became the stimulus for their consumer launch.For their next projection they developed a consumer-facing competition, inviting people to suggest what their first consumer-facing projection should be. Entrants from around the globe entered and a voting process decided the winner, whose entry turned the building into a giant Rubik’s cube.That winning idea was turned into a stimulating building projection, set against the backdrop of the iconic Battersea Power Station. The projection took place in June 2011 and press, consumers, stakeholders and the winner attended.

It generated great PR, with over 300m people reached.

Our Optimistic Seeker audience is 25-30, with a slight male skew. They’re down-to-earth and open-minded. They drink gin because they see it as more sophisticated and distinctive than other spirits. We want them to drink Bombay Sapphire because they see it as the most aspirational brand. Through PR and content generation the goal was to re-launch Bombay Sapphire’s new brand idea of Infused with Imagination to this audience, to start shifting their perceptions to create the next generation of brand advocates.

A worldwide competition offering one person the chance to inspire a building projection was launched. Each participating market enlisted a local Bombay Sapphire Foundation to select five finalists. The finalists were then entered into a country specific competition on Facebook and were voted for by the general public to determine one overall winner for that country, creating advocates of the finalists and driving coverage around the competition.

Every country winner went into the Global Competition where the world voted for their favourite expression of Imagination.

Voted for by Facebook fans and online communities, the Global winner of the Project Your Imagination 2010 competition was Erjola Veliaj from Albania.Her idea was then converted into an impressive 3D projection on Battersea Power Station, aboard a 1 night only event with key press, consumers, stakeholders. Content, b-roll and a global press announcement propelled this London-based event into achieving worldwide coverage.

Objectives:• Launch Bombay Sapphire’s new brand idea to our Optimistic Seeker Audience• Content creationResults:• Total attendees at event: 228• UK media attendees at event: 48• Over 5,000 pieces of global coverage appeared• 53 pieces of coverage appeared in the UK • And 20 pieces were global online video coverage• 114 top tier media pieces• 100% of coverage was favourable or neutral in tone• Brand mentions average at 10.1 occurrences per article• 100% of coverage contained at least one key message• Over 300m people were reached via the press coverage• And the total estimated AVE based PR value of over £4.5m

Bombay Sapphire brings imagination to everything that it does which in turn means it inspires the imagination of our consumer. The activity needed to demonstrate that Bombay Sapphire has imagination at its heart by encouraging a consumer response and interaction. Due to limited budgets activity needed to shift from paid advertising to impactful, owned activations that could fuel earned conversations that in turn drive reach, engagement and longevity.

Bombay Sapphire revolutionised the gin category, making it stylish and aspirational. Since launch it’s met with success and is now the world’s most valuable premium gin. Yet it’s still ambitious and wants to become the world’s most valuable gin by 2016.Overtime it established itself as a beautiful, premium brand. However, it was admired by consumers from afar. Despite its strong imagery it lacked the clear point of view required to connect at a deeper level. Therefore the brand was experiencing a loss of engagement, with consumers questioning its substance.The challenge became re-launching with a new point of view.