The latest addition to the Johnnie Walker stable, Platinum Label, is a premium whisky created for high-end consumers to mark life’s exclusive moments. We were asked to launch the brand to this existing premium market in South Africa, as well as get consumers of other Johnnie Walker variants to trade up to Platinum Label.

So we created an integrated campaign based on a combination of live activation and online platforms.

To create intrigue, we held back distribution and built a unique boutique bottle store, which contained the only bottle of Platinum Label in the country, signed by Master Distiller Jim Beveridge.

The 1 Bottle Bottle Store was built in an upmarket shopping district in Johannesburg and featured exhibit spaces explaining product intrinsics. Consumers could bid in-store or online, with proceeds from the winning bid going to a drink-driving charity. The campaign also included social media, in-store events and PR.

A campaign microsite was developed, featuring product information and a bid page, allowing anyone in South Africa to bid for the bottle, regardless of their location. A bid counter updated in real-time let bidders keep track of how their bid was faring against others. The campaign was also taken on to Facebook, where fans could get information about the campaign and get updated about the current leading bid.

The physical Store was built over a two-week period by a collaboration of agency art directors and set designers – the end result being a stylish, contemporary and uncluttered shop space with the singular bottle of Platinum Label as its centrepiece.

Both the Store and online elements launched simultaneously, with bidding lasting only a week.

In just a week 2216 bids were placed, including 10 755 unique page impressions and 20 037 fans added to the Walker Facebook page, with Facebook South Africa listing the campaign as having the highest level of engagement ever achieved in the country.

Most importantly the bottle of Platinum Label, which retails for €72, was sold for €6 370 – all of which went to charity.

The campaign also generated earned media of €175 000.

Platinum Label sold out within 3 weeks, exceeding targets by 103%, and parent company Diageo now uses the campaign globally as a Best Practice Case Study.