The Situation
Grey Goose, A Bacardi Brand, came to Mr Wolf with an existing global brand strategy and creative platform, already rolled out elsewhere worldwide under the banner “Live Victoriously.” Globally the brand was thriving but locally engagement was passive, the brand felt largely interchangeable with the competitive set, and there was little evidence from research that the existing global campaign would turn things round in Australia.
The Strategy
Grey Goose needed someone who understood how global platforms are built, and where they break down when they cross borders. Mr Wolf was engaged specifically for their experience managing global brand strategy at scale, experience that gave us the expertise to optimise the existing global platform to ensure local relevance.
Category-wide, vodka was losing ground to gin’s craft story and tequila’s momentum. Grey Goose ranked poorly on having a well-known brand story, despite sitting on a combination of strong rational RTBs: 100% French provenance, single-origin Picardie wheat, Grande Champagne limestone-filtered water, and a single-distillation process. So Mr Wolf didn’t invent a new insight, it re-centred an existing one, and redefined what “Frenchness” meant: swapping clichéd luxury codes for something grittier and more contemporary. That single move also resolved a split running through the global campaign, which was being asked to do two contradictory jobs – justify a premium price and push everyday accessibility.
The result: “Never Settle for Ordinary,” an insight that holding back for special occasions just means filling life with mediocre moments, with Grey Goose’s uncompromising French credentials as the reason to dive in.
The Creative
Mr Wolf worked with Grey Goose’s existing global creative assets and tailored them to the localised brand platform. Underpinning all the creative assets was the challenge “Why vodka when you can Grey Goose”, showcasing people who have decided to be fabulous rather than fine. The campaign ran across BVOD and Social and was backed by high-impact digital screens in retail, occasion-based apertures and an influencer-led push across Instagram.
The Results
The campaign launched into a genuine category tailwind, however Grey Goose more than held its ground:
- Post-campaign, Australian vodka sales grew 13.6%, ahead of total spirits at 9.5%
- The Grey Goose super-premium segment drove the majority of this growth at +19%
- Campaign achieved a 209% ROI
- Grey Goose continued to gain share as Australia’s number one super-premium vodka through 2022
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