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Gordon's Gin grows awareness with novel and traditional means
Even though the equivalent of 10 bottles of Gordon’s Gin are consumed every minute across the planet, according to its producers, they are not taking its status as the world’s biggest-selling gin for granted.
In South Africa, the brand recently ran two major national spring competitions to build visibility in the lead-up to the festive season. The first focused on the gin’s British provenance with the winning prize an all-expenses-paid luxury trip for two to London. The other, conceived in response to the tough economic times, offered a prize of R100 000 towards a home or to use for home improvements.
To enter, consumers had to buy the product from participating outlets and text or respond online to neck tag instructions. The "original London Experience" with a value of R80 000, was also marketed on-consumption, with patrons ordering Gordon’s eligible to enter. Both promotions were supported by a mobisite facility for entries, as well as an extensive array of merchandising initiatives, including replicas of the Britain’s familiar red telephone booths for the travel competition.
Together the two promotions generated many thousands of entries and resulted in boosted sales, especially in the Western Cape, Northern Cape, Limpopo and Mpumalanga that suggest trial by new users, according to Distell’s South African category manager of whisky, white spirits and liqueurs Rudolph du Toit.
"Using the traditional travel prize model, as well as the more novel home ownership-linked give-away, meant we could attract a broad spectrum of established users as well as consumers new to the brand," explains du Toit.
He adds that the response to the housing-linked R100 000 cash prize was particularly strong. "We’ve run cash prize competitions before but the fact that this promotion was linked to home ownership sparked a very high interest from the public. We think this might well be as a result of the current economic climate in which people are holding back on putting a deposit on a home or undertaking renovations. The potential offered by the competition to do so, gave them the impetus to enter."
The winner of the trip to London that includes six nights in a five-star hotel is Novika Mesar, a 28 year-old woman from Port Shepstone. The furthest she has ever travelled before is Johannesburg. She will be taking up her prize next year, with a friend joining her.
The final draw for the cash prize, in which three candidates participated, was held in December with Helene Page of Five Ways in Port Elizabeth emerging as the winner.Daniel Ramabula of Polokwane and Vanthandra Jeram of East London were the two runners-up, each winning a cash prize of R5 000.
Gordon’s was created in 1769 by a Scot, Alexander Gordon, in a distillery in Clerkenwell in central London which he chose for the purity of its waters. His secret formulation for London Dry Gin remains unchanged to this day and is known to no more than 12 people in the world at any one time. All they will reveal is that it contains juniper, citrus, coriander seeds, angelica root and what are termed "other botanicals".
DATE: DECEMBER 13, 2010
ISSUED BY: DKC (DE KOCK COMMUNICATIONS)
FOR: GORDON’S LONDON DRY GIN
QUERIES: RUDOLPH DU TOIT, DISTELL’S SA CATEGORY MANAGER OF WHISKY, WHITE SPIRITS AND LIQUEURS, 021 809 7000 OR 082 550 4145
TESSA DE KOCK/MARLISE POTGIETER, DKC, 021 422 2690
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