The bourbon category is growing in the US. In fact, in terms of absolute volume growth in spirits, bourbon grew the most in the U.S. in 2019, followed by tequila and bourbon was predicted to grow +7% in 2020. And, the demographics of Bourbon drinkers are shifting, with growth coming largely from younger drinkers age 21-34. Bourbon’s reputation as an “old man’s” drink, was becoming no longer true.

Maker's Mark is a bourbon whiskey produced in Kentucky. While it’s a $1 billion global brand, we were only making our mark with the conventional whiskey audience. We’d told authentic stories about our brand, but they weren’t breaking through with the next generation of drinkers. They didn’t see us as unique or interesting enough to be worth their time or their wallet. Our objective was to drive purchase intent among next-generation whiskey drinkers who were gravitating to the newest craft bourbons.

With restaurants closed and parties at a standstill during quarantine 2020, at-home became the number one place for entertainment.

Since the outbreak of Coronavirus, 52% of legal-age drinkers in the U.S. have tried making more cocktails at home and 54% intend to do so well into the future, according to an industry survey conducted in June by Drizly.

And with more time at home, people were spending more time watching TV – especially streaming services or connected TV (CTV). ComScore reported that 68% of 21-34 year olds said watching TV or Movies was the number one activity they were doing more of.

Our idea was to capitalize on the at-home cocktail and streaming trends, standing out from other brands and reflecting Maker’s Mark character and wit.

To continue building the Maker’s Mark brand, we needed to change perception among the next generation of whiskey drinkers a.k.a. Millennials. Today, they account for more than $1 trillion in U.S. consumer spending and there are 91 million of them, as opposed to only 61 million Gen Xers and 77 million Baby Boomers. And this is a generation where traditional ad strategies are not effective. 84% of them don’t trust traditional advertising. They see ads as intrusive and disruptive and would rather skip or avoid them.

Next-generation whiskey drinkers trust what they feel is authentic, in fact, 90% of them say authenticity is important to them when deciding which brands they support. So, to connect with them, we knew we needed to create authentic content – not ads – that centered around their lives and interests.

We combined the at-home cocktail and streaming trends, encouraging people to make cocktails based on their favorite TV shows….while watching their favorite TV shows.

Enter Andrew Rae, aka Binging with Babish - a YouTube personality with a fanbase in the millions, along with streaming powerhouse Hulu.

We created Mixing with Babish, a series of nine short-form cocktail how-to videos, each themed to a different Hulu TV show. With his signature Babish wit, each video contained puns, show references, and Easter eggs all designed to engage fans.

Each episode began with a clip of the show that inspired it. Then, Babish showed viewers how to build their themed cocktail, like “The Rebel,” our spin on a Moscow Mule inspired by Hulu’s The Great.

Episodes drove to YouTube, where fans could view the content and recipes. And they were genre targeted across Hulu and promoted within Babish’s YouTube channel & social handles.

Next-generation whiskey drinkers took notice! Maker’s Mark saw a +9 percentage point increase in Purchase Intent among next-generation whiskey drinkers (Adults 21-34).

And positive perception increased among next-generation whiskey drinkers as well, including a +10 percentage point increase in “Is worth spending more for”, a +9 point rise in “is a high-quality brand”, and an +8 point increase in “I would be proud to order by name.”

And on YouTube, we saw a +5% lift in Ad Recall (1.2 points higher than previous efforts), and a +2.4% lift in Brand Favorability, surpassing the benchmark by 2x.

Through this marriage of pandemic trends, pop culture and cocktails, we helped next-generation drinkers see Maker’s Mark as worth their time and wallet