In a changing market landscape, Chivas faced declining brand relevance and flattening sales. We needed to reverse the fortune of the brand and reposition Chivas as a brand that resonates with Hong Kongers.

A global platform for Chivas, film is also something that is important to the people of Hong Kong (HK) so we decided to create a film that captured the hearts of our target audience in HK. However, as this was a film aimed specifically at the people of HK, we took a collaborative approach to producing the film, partnering with an up-and-coming HK film director and encouraging her to crowd source her film crew via Facebook under the aptly named “HK Crew”. Our director and HK Crew worked with Chivas to produce a short film under the theme “Dream City” that inspired people not to abandon the pursuit of their dreams. Each key milestone of the collaborative project was brought to life by a series of activation events and phased PR activity to ensure that our target audience was kept up to date on the progress of the production through on-going coverage and exposure, as well as have the opportunity to engage with the brand first-hand.

Why do we deserve a PR Lion? By returning to our classy film roots with a distinctly unique approach to devising and promoting a branded content-led platform, we managed not only to shift our brand image to improve consideration levels; we also grew Chivas 18 sales by 37% YOY as a result.

Auditions for the HK Crew opened at our first event to our target and media, along with a teaser video, which was available on YouTube, inviting candidates to apply via Facebook. The response was phenomenal: more than 10 applications were received for every position needed. Behind the scene content shared with the brand, potential crew and Director’s Facebook fan base amplified the process.

After rounds of auditions, the final “HK Crew” was announced at our second event. We released video biographies of them to highlight their dream of leveraging the power of films to contribute back to society. Pre-and post-event coverage and on-going features about the project, crew and director also helped to spread the word.

The film premièred two months on in the presence of film industry celebrities, media and entrepreneurs. The film was subsequently released on social media, broadcasted on TV, and shown at outdoor mobile theatre.

Business Objective surpassed at 1/5 of 2012 budget -

Chivas18 volume jumped 37% while market growth rate declined 8.1%YoY.

Marketing Objective achieved brand reappraisal as premium blended Scotch whisky -

Consideration level grew from 52% to 63%YoY and image uplifted in terms of style, substance and charisma.

Campaign Objective -

• Reached 6 million people through 39 pieces of content and grew Chivas’ Facebook community by 50%

• Over 10X of applications; 200% more than any HK based crowd-sourcing activity

• Over 1,150,000 minutes of video viewed across all social platforms and sustained 19% engagement (PTAT score) on Facebook

• Reached over 30 million people through 68 earned media coverage