The Magnificent Seven
Issue 11 | July 2009
Agency
20:20 London
Creative Team
Creative Director: Peter Riley, Creatives: Matt Bennett, Will Battersby, Zhenmeng Yang
Production Team
Lead Digital Producer: Farley Brian, Lead Digital Developer: Karim Beyrouti, Flame operator: Chris McDermott
Other Credits
Account Director: Jo Szpunar, Account Manager: George Wood, Planning Director: Mark Riley, Producer: Cat Mills
Date
February 2009
Background
Diageo's 'World Class' program is the most prestigious bartending competition in the world, the 'Liquid Oscars' and takes place in front of formidable judges including Dale DeGroff and Marco Pierre White. This digital campaign was aimed at 10,000 bartenders around the world to get the very best of them to apply.
Idea
Seven of the world’s greatest bartenders were placed in what looks like a new blog about mixing cocktails. But after a few seconds the first bartending superstar comes to life in a video screen on the site. He carves an ice diamond, but then slides it out of his video screen. The blog scrolls down to reveal the second bartender again in a video player. He makes a cocktail, sits it on the webpage scroll bar and sends it down the line. As the perfect tag-team, each bartender uses his quick wits, flair and intuition to help create a beautifully choreographed round of cocktails.The four-minute film culminates with a cheeky wannabe bartender adding his personal touch to demonstrate that The 'World Class' program is also judged by one other special ingredient... individuality.
Results
Bartenders and spirits professionals around the world responded with positive comments ranging from sheer delight to "how did you do that?".
The strategy relied on bartenders sharing their ‘discovery’ of the site and thus generating word of mouth. Thousands of messages appeared in hundreds of spirits industry blogs and forums. Within one month of launch, The Magnificent Seven Blog had 6,637 unique visitors with zero media spend.
Our Thoughts
Actually, this is a TV ad. But what 20:20 have done so ingeniously is switch platforms. It’s one sort of advertising message disguised to look like another, a piece of video masquerading as a blog. And therein is to be found surprise and delight as the viewer’s expectations get confounded after opening the page. I was clicking frenziedly (and pointlessly) before I sussed what was going on. Hilarious.