To celebrate World Cucumber Day (14 June), William Grant & Sons (WGS) and its Hendrick’s gin brand are turning The Moodie Davitt Report’s website green for 24 hours.
In the run up to World Cucumber Day, William Grant & Sons has been running a global campaign to highlight the super-premium gin, which is infused with the uncommon combination of cucumber and rose. The company has partnered with leading travel retailers in a worldwide promotion (see below).
The ‘Cultivate the Unusual’ campaign invited consumers to take part in a World Cucumber Day experiment, based on scientific research by botanist Graham Brown that shows cucumbers respond best to outside stimuli. According to Brown, larger, juicier and tastier cucumbers are produced when they are protected by mini sleeping bags and exposed to stimuli such as music and perfumes.
The experiment culminates on World Cucumber Day when botanists and green fingered enthusiasts all over the world will harvest their green fruit so it can be used to garnish a Hendrick’s gin & tonic.
William Grant & Sons said thousands of people worldwide have taken part in the experiment, either growing their own cucumber or adopting a cucumber virtually through Facebook.
The campaign, promoted via Hendrick’s own digital channels, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, has also been highlighted in global travel retail via activations in key locations in the run up to World Cucumber Day. The initiative will be further promoted after 14 June.
WGS has worked closely with retailers including Aer Rianta International, DFS Group, Heinemann, King Power Thailand and Lagardère Travel Retail to bring the campaign to life in key airports. Promotions featured a combination of tasting bars, glorification hot houses, branding, promoters, botanic seed trays and theatre pieces including the Hendrick’s Cucumber Crank, the ‘peculiar’ machine designed with styling cues from agricultural devices. When the wheel is turned, the cucumber advances through a series of knives inside which it is sliced to be enjoyed in a Hendrick’s & tonic.
Smaller scale activations have taken place at industry and internal events, and WGS has partnered with Harding Retail to hold an ‘international gin day’ on its cruise ships.
Activations started in May at locations including Singapore Changi T1 with DFS, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport with King Power Thailand, Luton Airport with Lagardère Travel Retail and Dublin Airport T2 with Aer Rianta International (ARI).
“Hendrick’s is oddly infused with rose and cucumber, so World Cucumber Day has provided us with the perfect opportunity to reaffirm the brand’s ownership of the signature cucumber serve and make it globally famous”
Visitors to the promotions can try signature cocktails and will receive a 5cl bottle with every Hendrick’s bottle purchased. At Changi Airport, customers who purchase two bottles receive a cucumber scented candle, and at Dublin and Luton airports they will receive a styled fan.
ARI Global Head of Liquor, Tobacco, Confectionery and Fine Foods Paul Hunnisett said: “Gin has enjoyed a huge surge in popularity in The Loop, Dublin Airport in recent years, driven in no small part by Hendrick’s unusual and wondrous activations that our customers love. It’s what makes this gin such an iconic brand. World Cucumber Day is yet another really ‘cool’ idea that has been very well received in our Dublin stores.”
Through June, the World Cucumber Day activations are taking place at Frankfurt, Hamburg, Copenhagen and Sydney airports in partnership with Heinemann and will move to Johannesburg and Munich in August and September. Besides inviting consumers to ‘celebrate with a slice of the unusual’, all are encouraged to go online and adopt a cucumber.
WGS has also encouraged retail staff around the world to engage with World Cucumber Day by leaving gift boxes of seeds and instruction leaflets so they could cultivate and bond with their own cucumbers.
Gebr. Heinemann Head of Activity Management Ann-Kathrin Fürer commented: “We’ve been delighted to partner with William Grant & Sons for World Cucumber Day; the travel retail team can always be relied upon to come up with truly stand out activations – quirky, unusual, fun and totally mad and eccentric.
“We’ve supported the campaign whole-heartedly, including featuring the June Frankfurt event on our own social media platforms, inviting travellers to take part in our Hendrick’s World Cucumber Experiment at the A+A-Main Schengen Tasting Bar.”
“World Cucumber Day has been a global campaign for Hendrick’s but global travel retail has undoubtedly played a key role in spreading the word to consumers, yet again proving the value and importance of this distribution channel”
Although it is too early for full sales data from the promotions, William Grant & Sons Head of Marketing Global Travel Retail Ifan Jenkins said: “We know that at Luton Airport sales were up by +35% at the end of May and at Dublin Airport sales of Hendrick’s doubled in the first two weeks.”
WGS said that reaction from passengers to World Cucumber Day activations has been ‘incredibly’ encouraging, with many being introduced to the world of Hendrick’s for the first time.
Harvest and garnish (fully-grown cucumber) 1. Do you want the good news or the bad news first? The earlier the cucumbers are harvested, the smaller and more tender the seeds. They will also taste sweeter and juicier. Oh, and there’s no bad news. |
Jenkins noted: “Hendrick’s is oddly infused with rose and cucumber, so World Cucumber Day has provided us with the perfect opportunity to reaffirm the brand’s ownership of the signature cucumber serve and make it globally famous.
“The support we’ve received from our retail partners has been absolutely fantastic; they’ve all really bought into the campaign – in many cases growing their own cucumbers as well – and have worked extraordinarily hard to maximise the visibility for passengers.
“For William Grant & Sons, World Cucumber Day has enabled us to appeal not only to existing fans – giving them a unique and fun way to interact with Hendrick’s, but also to invite new audiences into our peculiarly unusual brand world.
“World Cucumber Day has been a global campaign for Hendrick’s but global travel retail has undoubtedly played a key role in spreading the word to consumers, yet again proving the value and importance of this distribution channel.”
During the campaign, consumers have been encouraged to sing to their fruits or read classical literature to young seedlings at night. Jenkins said: “We appreciate that the extraordinary bonds gardeners will have formed with their cucumber may make harvesting a somewhat emotional experience. Nevertheless, we are sure the pure joy of enjoying said cucumber in its rightful place – as a garnish in a Hendrick’s gin and tonic – will more than compensate for any sense of loss.”
