What started out as a one line brief to bring the story of Stoneleigh wines to life, turned into one of Sydney's oldest homes becoming a living breathing part of nature.
Pernod Ricard's Stoneleigh brand, in partnership with IPG's Society and production agency, The Feds, has created a house in Miller's Point in Sydney that is completely alive. While that may sound like yet another advertising gimick, everything in the house is actually living, from the bed covered in plants to the living room, complete with a table covered in edible herbs, to the kitchen which is overrun with mushrooms.
Designed to truly bring wine tasting to life, each of the rooms in the house represents a different wine in the brand's newly released Wild Valley range. Sasha Pozniak, marketing manager, wines for Pernod Ricard told AdNews the concept came from the wines' heritage and nature production.
“We wanted to find a way to make Stoneleigh famous for its story. There was no corporate strategy - there was a conversation - but there was no brief. We just told the agency the story of the winery, we just wanted to tell a story that everyone would care to know,” she said.
Pozniak wanted something that wasn't traditional advertising because she really wanted people to experience the brand.
“I didn't want a TV ad. I didn't want an outdoor campaign, that's just so boring and expected,” she said.
“It's such a cliché. To really connect in a meaningful way with this group of people we needed to over-deliver with the entertainment and the utility value. I wanted to create something that wasn't advertising, something that was worthy for people to think about and to talk about, so that their feelings and their conversations with other people become our media, so it travels by word of mouth.”
The brand held a launch party in partnership with Vice, and is also working with fellow youth-focused publisher, Pedestrian, and FBi Radio to get the brand message out to a younger demographic.
Naomi Martin, social creative director at Society said: “We needed to infiltrate their lifestyle and their circle with what we needed to say from the brand. Very few brands do that very well; there's a lot of bland messaging, so we needed something interesting to hit them with and be disruptive.”
When asked if this was a risky project, Pozniak said that she had to explain to her marketing director and managing director that this was a risk, however she said she followed her gut and believes ultimately this project will be stronger than any traditional advertising that could have been created.
“This is better than any advertising I could serve to you. This is a personal and real conversation that will have a lasting impact. This is why we talked about coming up with something that wasn't traditional advertising,” she added.
The brand will also create content from the activation, which it will use down the track.
Martin noted there was also a risk for the agency because there are no straightforward deliverables when it comes to a campaign of this nature.
“This isn't safe; we can't sit in a meeting and say this is going to 100% deliver on these objectives. We've always known deep down that if we did it the way we wanted to do it then it would be amazing, but there's nervousness when you do something exciting," Martin said.
“If you're playing it safe, you’re not going to get noticed. Every brand can create a suite of interesting videos now, so we needed to break through that.”
Julie Duff, The Fed's content, brand and production lead told AdNews that for the agency this project has pushed it past what it may have traditionally been known for and highlights what it wants to be known for in the future.
She also noted that the reason this project worked so well was due to collaboration, saying: “We've had an amazing experience working with Pernod and Society. I know we hear this stuff about collaboration and partnerships all the time, but really to be able to do something like this it sits in great trust - that has helped this succeed."
“If we didn't have that trusting relationship it would never would have gotten off the ground."
The campaign overall has set Stoneleigh back $500,000, however the brand believes the return on investment will be three times that. The house will be living for another six weeks.
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.