ORIGINAL SIN
Tequila had a reputation. You didn’t bring it home to mom. Then came the premiums. We were meant to sip them like bourbon. We discussed their bouquets like wine. They were expensive enough to impress a date at a white table-cloth restaurant. But they had watered-down reputations.
Enter Tres Generaciones, from Tequila Sauza. It was authentic, with a recipe passed down from three generations of master distillers. It was smooth, Añejo aged 13 years. And it had all the flavor of a real tequila, unlike some of the brands that softened their edges for a mainstream audience.
The catch? Sauza had just under a million dollars to launch this new brand. We had to quickly distinguish it from other brands, while figuring out how to get enough attention for the launch. Our strategy was to reach the taste influencers who remembered that tequila once had a reputation. And capture their imaginations. So we went back to the beginning, not just of tequila, but of our human awakening. We partnered with master photographer George Holz to reinterpret the story of Adam and Eve. The project was called “Original Sin,” and set in the famous Blue Agave fields of Tequila, Mexico.
The launch was a tantalizing gallery tour of George’s silver prints, with incredible depth and striking subject matter. The exhibition traveled to the seven most influential photography galleries across the country, including the Staley Wise Gallery in New York and the Fahey/Klein Gallery in Los Angeles. The marketing campaign had one element: a finely detailed and richly printed press kit. It was mailed to 500 top influencers in several categories, including fashion, art, dining and music. We invited the influencers to attend exclusive openings at each of the galleries, where they could view the work, discuss the project with the photographer, and sample Tres Generaciones.
The strategy worked, and generated tremendous buzz and press coverage. The exhibit was published by leading photographic journals Photo, Aperture, S Magazine by Leica, and Meter. It was promoted by each city's lifestyle magazine, written about in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times, and featured in many other food and fashion publications.
Original Sin struck a chord, and the right balance between art and the art of promotion.
Awards: Communication Arts; ADDY; ANDY; Effie Silver, Alcoholic Beverages