- Continue Smirnoff’s longstanding support of the LGBTQIA+ community by establishing Smirnoff as the most welcoming global brand to the LGBTQIA+ community throughout WorldPride.
- Spark editorial and social conversation amongst the LGBTQ+ community and their allies in NYC as well as those across the country who are not at WorldPride.
Strategy
Smirnoff launched the “Welcome Home” campaign that aimed to make the international LGBTQIA+ family feel at home during Pride by:
- Driving mass conversation through earned media with a mix of paid and earned social around Smirnoff activations.
- Leveraging celebrity partners – Jonathan Van Ness, Laverne Cox and Alyssa Edwards – to drive national spikes of visibility.
- Elevating the “Welcome Home” message consistently through all programs to reinforce Smirnoff as a longstanding supporter of the LGBTQIA+ community.
- Showcase Smirnoff’s support meant more than just a rainbow by continuing its pledge to donate $1.5 million
Implementation
In celebration of Pride and global LGBTQIA+ equality, Smirnoff welcomed Pride home to New York with its “Welcome Home” campaign. Smirnoff teamed up with actress and LGBTQIA+ advocate, Laverne Cox; star of Dancing Queen and RuPaul’s Drag Race, Alyssa Edwards; and Queer Eye television personality and web series star, Jonathan Van Ness to create a multifaceted marketing campaign that drove conversation through:
- Not one – but two – limited-edition Smirnoff No. 21 vodka Pride bottles. The Smirnoff “Love Wins” bottles were launched in June 2017 and featured an iridescent rainbow with photographs of real couples and real love. For every bottle made, Smirnoff pledged to donate $1 to HRC totaling nearly $1.5 million by 2021.
- The NEW Smirnoff “Welcome” bottles were designed to visually bring the brand’s “Welcome Home” campaign to life, literally welcoming the global LGBTQIA+ community to New York. There were six versions of this bottle, and on each one the Smirnoff label was replaced with “Welcome” spelled out in different languages – English, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian and Mandarin. While these bottles weren’t available for retail purchase, they were created in limited quantities to spread messages of inclusivity and were on display at Smirnoff’s Pride events.
- A video series starring Laverne Cox welcoming the LGBTQIA+ community to New York for global Pride. The videos debuted on Smirnoff’s social channels and were broadcasted at three major airports surrounding NYC – making sure all visiting LGBTQIA+ community members and allies were welcomed the Smirnoff way. Laverne also shared a clip on her Instagram to share the new digital series with her nearly 4 million followers.
- A home-inspired, immersive pop-up experience called “House of Pride,” where Smirnoff celebrated the LGBTQIA+ community. The pop-up was open in NYC from June 26 through June 28, during which Jonathan Van Ness hosted the event for one night. Van Ness shared his experience at “House of Pride” with his followers worldwide by positing a story and in-feed image on Instagram.
- Participation in the NYC Pride March with a NYC-themed float led by Alyssa Edwards dressed as “Lady Liberty.” She also “Welcomed Home” her LGBTQIA+ followers and allies with an in-feed Instagram post sharing an image from Smirnoff’s float.
- Smirnoff collaborated with producer Eric Kupper to create a dance song remixing soundbites from Laverne Cox’s “Welcome Home” spots, which was announced on Billboard highlighting the brand’s donating proceeds from streams and downloads from the song to the Transgender Law Center.
Smirnoff’s “Welcome Home” campaign achieved the brand’s goal of positioning Smirnoff as the most welcoming global brand to the LGBTQIA+ community throughout WorldPride 2019 in NYC. This was measured by:
- With production of the new “Love Wins” bottles, Smirnoff continued to show support to the HRC to help them continue their amazing work for the community to ensure equal rights.
- Smirnoff PR owned 32% of editorial “Share of Voice” this Pride month, which was calculated based on the number of editorial placements garnered throughout the campaign as compared to competitors, showcasing that Smirnoff dominated conversation around Pride 2019 against other brands in delivering the brand’s “Welcome Home” message the LGBTQIA+ community.
- Smirnoff PR garnered a brand record 256 placements with over 950 million impressions in support of the “Welcome Home” campaign and Pride 2019, compared to the brand’s past Pride performance.
- Smirnoff PR led the vodka category during WorldPride in editorial “Impact,” which is calculated by an algorithm that takes into account the power of our brand mentions versus competitors.
- Smirnoff PR delivered strong paid influencer social impact results demonstrated through thoughtful and purposeful, quality posts with Jonathan Van Ness, Laverne Cox, Alyssa Edwards Bradley Commerford, four out of five of which exceeded Diageo standard benchmarks. (Note: Diageo benchmarks which are created using a blend of industry standard data and historical Diageo performance.)
- In addition to strong paid influencer results, Smirnoff PR generated 5.3x more added value YOY with 159 added value posts and 956M estimated added value impressions.
