1. Drive cultural relevance to emphasize that single malt whisky is an approachable category for the younger consumer
2. Recruit new, younger single malt whisky consumers by inserting the brand into social conversation
3. Drive content views and increase YouTube channel subscribers
How can a video go viral, especially in today's media landscape where millennial males watch online videos for two hours longer than any other digitally viewing demographic? How can a brand breakthrough the clutter to make the "dusty" single malt whisky category culturally relevant? The answer: the perfect combination of the right content creators, the right influencer, a great idea and a strategically executed campaign that can set the fire ablaze.
The fire in this case is My Tales of Whisky Holiday Edition: Nick Offerman's Yule Log (Yule Log). Given the success of the first iteration of the My Tales of Whisky video series, and building on the strength of the relationship with Nick Offerman and the Parks and Recreation TV show creative folks (Morgan Sacket, Dean Holland, Dave King), Lagavulin Single Malt Scotch Whisky was able to put a humorous spin on the traditional holiday season with four pieces of thematic content.
Yule Log - a 45-minute (one) shot of Offerman sitting next to the traditional holiday Yule Log and savoring Lagavulin in complete silence was deemed the hero piece to lead the campaign.
EXECUTION
The team first secured an exclusive with Elite Daily, the voice of Generation Y, to launch Yule Log. Through media outreach, Elite Daily released a 3 minute abridged version of Yule Log to their Facebook page to trigger the social conversation as well as linked to the Yule Log YouTube page, driving content views.
Once the exclusive had expired, the team conducted traditional media outreach to Lifestyle, General Interest and Entertainment media. Within hours, Yule Log went viral and was a trending topic on Facebook.
To keep the fire burning and to respond to high consumer demand, the team created a 10-hour version of Yule Log which was released on Christmas Eve Day, just in time for consumers to enjoy during their Holiday celebrations.
Yule Log was inserted into the Holiday cultural conversation:
Cultural Relevance:
1. On the day of launch, Yule Log was a trending topic on Facebook
2. Over 175 stories nationally garnering 840 million earned media impressions
Social Conversation:
1. Consumers and influencers happily welcomed Yule Log into their offices and living rooms throughout the holiday season
2. 235 Earned social media impressions
3. Companies including Sony, Tumblr and Go Daddy as well as consumers streamed (and posted) Yule Log
4. In response to the positive chatter, the team created a 10 hour loop for Holiday gatherings
Content Views
1. 1 Million YouTube views in two days which then increased to 2 Million views in one week (before paid media)
2. YouTube channel subscribers increased from 5.5K to 23K
