Iconic whisky brand Johnnie Walker Blue Label set the pace for premium blended whisky, but in a market obsessed by single malts, consumers needed to be reminded of its luxury credentials, quality and craft.

From June to August 2023, we invited consumers to ‘Discover the Depth of Blue at the iconic Landmark. By combining the immersive experience with local celebrities, a compelling story appealed to the audience and generated media interest, we also managed to leverage entertainment news coverage. This reinforced our creation of a very warm and immersive blue experience with a mix of art, technology, history, culture, and gastronomy, offering among many perks and surprises, a special personal engraving service and bespoke tasting. We also designed the pairing menu at the MO Bar in Landmark, offering a beautiful selection of choices for all to enjoy.

Storytelling was carried out by immersion. A tastefully branded entrance space with props and a

lightbox surrounded by wooden casks, led into the immersive box, made up of three chapters,

‘brand introduction’, ‘craftsmanship’ and ‘all about flavours’. An audio guide guided guests, and full LED immersion turned into a transition tunnel guiding visitors to experiential tasting. Made up of a mixture of mirrors and light tubes, the arch tunnel was beautifully designed and animated with sequences, so guests could either take photos or make videos.The experiential tasting area was a beautifully presented centre installation with light projection. Visitors then experienced bold, complex, elegant and fiery flavours of the whisky. A rare collection exhibition also enabled guests to deeply explore the brand, from its history to specified craftsmanship to viewing the rare whisky collection on display.POSMs, digital banners, and standees within the mall maximized exposure, and we managed event registration seamlessly.

Our PR blast was in two phases. Our teaser leveraged pop up content, promoting the experience

effectively. The main release saw a further push of the event, maximising coverage and generating traffic.

With The Landmark providing an amazing venue, we also leveraged entertainment PR by selecting newly married couple Carlos and Shiga, for their first appearance after their wedding, which generated a large amount of coverage.

Media were the first to experience the immersive pop up event, helping the event generate traffic. With Chinese and English media involved, along with lifestyle, F&B and entertainment publications, the pop-up was a media sensation.

We started with a teaser release three weeks before the event in English and Chinese, providing

basic information and hooking interest in with a whisky tasting in 3 different Riedel glasses, bringing out different notes of Johnnie Walker Blue Label.

The main release then allowed media to create editorial content with videos and photos. With branded enrolment links, we generated strong interest not only from whisky channels and media, but also entertainment and F&B titles. After the activation started, we got exposure, with our celebrities dressed in blue, this fit the brand colour and suited the “Depth of Blue” theme. The celebrity couple reinforced the brand message and mentioned it repeatedly.

We generated strong media value on this project. We reached a high audience engagement,

increasing brand awareness, and improving the overall unique experience, by implementing an

immersive pop-up with unique graving, tasting and branding experiences.

The PR planning and execution resulted in strong coverage from lifestyle and F&B media. Meanwhile, our partnership with Carlos and Shiga, not only attracted entertainment media, but also generated a positive response from the public.

With our KOL guests and celebrities famous in the Mainland, we were able to expand our media

exposure in China. The Johnnie Walker Blue Label pairing menu at The Landmark Mandarin Oriental’s MO Bar was a great achievement and we also delivered off trade merchandising at 20 stores.

To get down to the detailed aspects of what we were able to achieve, here are the figures: our pop-up conversion rate was at 10% (+43% vs KPI). Our media exposure in Greater China was 92 million (reach +359 vs KPI). Our media value was 7.8 million (+400% vs KPI). Our sales performance was up 8% (HKMO May-Jun (vs last year).

Finally, the Kantar research report highlighted 3 key reasons to believe in our performance of

creating an immersive experience at The Landmark. They outlined that the craft we created was + 32 points, the rarity of the spirit we promoted was + 21 points and the distinctive flavour we were able to deliver was +29 points.

The outcome ultimately, was to entice users to try and experience Johnnie Walker’s Blue Label.