ABOUT THIS PROJECT
Warner Leisure Hotels - Adult-only ice cream
THE PROBLEM:
Warner Leisure needed to attract a younger audience (those aged 55+ in addition to the current 75+ market). They wanted to be perceived as a hotel chain which doesn’t take life too seriously, embraces new trends and has a fun, tongue in cheek personality.
THE SOLUTION:
As a combined audience who love a tipple, a bit of nostalgia and have a glint in their eye, we wanted to give the classic summer tradition a bit of a grown-up upgrade, and make it for adults-only – just like Warner.
WHAT WE DID:
Our in-house design team to create a bar-inspired wrap for the ice cream van. This echoed the style and décor of a Warner bar.
Internal sales data was used at the bars and restaurants in Warner hotels across the country, and this was combined with research of British adults aged 55+. The result was that they wanted an adult-only ice cream menu, which we created.
Teaming up with Warner’s ice cream supplier, New Forest Ice Cream, we hand made six boozy flavours.
We worked with food photography specialist The Robin Collective to create and capture the ‘IcePA’ – beer flavoured Mr Whippy ice cream into a pork scratching cone.
The Ice Cream Bar was then taken to London to visit 4 different press houses. These were: BuzzFeed, Wired, Vogue and Glamour, to gain pre-launch interest. The queues were so big, we stopped traffic outside Liberty.
THE RESULTS:
The Ice Cream Bar received over 150 pieces of coverage in the first four days (our KPI was 15), as well as media in America and Australia.
Coverage highlights included: The Times, The Telegraph, MailOnline, The Daily Star, Yahoo!, AOL, BBC Radio, The Metro, talkRADIO, SNAPPA, TRENDHUNTER, BT.com, Lonely Planet and The Daily Post.
With a key PR strategy focus to support Warner’s 13 hotels across the UK, the Ice Cream Bar was taken to 9 of their locations. It was revealed to the public each morning on social media, using the hashtag #GrownUpIceCream. This allowed the public to monitor the Ice cream bar’s whereabouts. We also created a regional press release, which took us over our annual KPI of 35 regional hits to 72 and that was six months early.
Page engagement on Warner’s Facebook increased two fold. The post announcing the launch received record engagement, beating the Anti-aGin campaign. Celebrities including X Factor’s Stevie Ritchie and Sam Bailey (who have a combined half a million followers) were actively sharing the Ice Cream Bar news on Twitter.