One Part Gin, Two Parts Branding

One of Dale Carnegie's principles for winning friends and influencing people was to "let the other person do the talking." Last May, MFP Interactive (MFPI), the Web division of Margeotes Fertitta and Partners, partnered with Web development group Mass Transmit to devise a novel way of applying that idea to gin. Of course, gin on its own is known to get people talking. But the two agencies found a way to get people to express their feelings about Bombay Sapphire premium gin without even touching a drop. Their secret: interactivity.

MFPI has partnered with Mass Transmit before. The two companies are on different floors of the same building in lower Manhattan. The former is an ad agency. The latter refers to itself as an "interactive and streaming media solutions provider." This means, among other things, that Mass Transmit developers are Macromedia Flash wizards.

Hard Acts to Follow

In fall 2000, Bacardi USA, which markets and distributes Bombay Sapphire gin in the United States, approached MFPI with the challenge of developing interactive marketing concepts for the famous blue-bottled beverage. MFPI and Mass Transmit jumped at the chance to add a new dimension to Bacardi's domestic marketing efforts.

Coming up with an online concept for Bombay Sapphire wasn't an easy job. There were already plans for an enhanced Bombay Sapphire Web site (www.bombaysapphire.com), which was scheduled for launch in April 2001. This site now features subtle alpha transitions and a sophisticated navigational interface, which executives hope will suggest the subtle flavor and sophistication of the beverage. Half of the site is devoted to the product, and the other half to high culture, including notable people, architecture, furniture, industrial design, and graphic art. Built by Deepend, a New York-based Web design firm, and consisting entirely of Flash 5 animation, the site reflects Bacardi's strategy of identifying Bombay Sapphire with the glamorous world of contemporary design.

Bacardi's famous print campaign, which has been running continuously since 1992, is the only print advertising ever done for Bombay Sapphire, and it contributed to a 15 percent sales growth in 2001. The ads, running in upscale magazines like The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, feature one-of-a-kind martini glasses created by big-name designers such as Karim Rashid and Dakota Jackson. The idea is to remind potential customers that the martini, as symbolized by these exquisite glasses, is a classy drink.

As MFPI and Mass Transmit were starting to plan the interactive campaign, they were aware that Bacardi was also garnering good publicity through other projects involving the design community. For example, the company sponsors scholarships for minority and disadvantaged design students through The Worldstudio Foundation at www.worldstudio.org.

The Killer App

So what could MFPI and Mass Transmit bring to the party that wasn't

already provided by the successful sites and the ad campaign? Interactivity. The partners focused on the uniquely interactive nature of the Web, its ability to actively involve users in a promotion on a global scale. The existing Bombay Sapphire Web site, though stunning in its production values and execution, was designed almost entirely for one-way communication: from Bacardi to its customers. Mass Transmit's idea would take a page from Dale Carnegie, and let the customers do the talking.

Mass Transmit had already experimented with creating Web content that would entice people to interact with a brand. For instance, it created a "menu scramble" game for Denny's Restaurants. In the process of deciphering REOO COESKIO AND MCERA IEP at Dennys.com, customers learn about items on the Denny's menu. The game sometimes shows up while customers wait to download large files, and it can also be reached through the site's standard navigation.

When Macromedia released Flash 5 in August 2000, Mass Transmit realized that it could take interactive content to a new level with the tool's upgraded ActionScript scripting language. Flash 5 ActionScript is essentially a version of JavaScript for the Flash environment. (Both languages are based on the ECMA-262 standard.) In particular, Mass Transmit saw Flash 5 as the perfect tool for building a Web-based application that would let users create their own animation online.

Mass Transmit had produced some create-your-own-animation prototypes for clients, but nothing ever went live. When Mass Transmit and MFPI started brainstorming about Bombay Sapphire, one idea seemed like a natural choice, given Bacardi's popular print campaign. They would create a make-your-own-martini-glass application.

"It was one of those rare moments in the business when you could feel a great idea walk into the room, introduce itself to everyone around the table, and become part of us," recalls Hal Williams, MFPI's director of interactive services. "One person would start the sentence, and the next would finish it, and in a matter of minutes, we had the basic idea hammered out."

The teams agreed the technology could fulfill Bacardi's goals for branding, marketing, and collecting contact information for future campaigns. It complemented the traditional print campaign and further promoted Bombay Sapphire's involvement with the design community.

When the teams presented the idea to Bacardi USA, the company approved it with little hesitation. So began several months of intense development with a group consisting of Williams from Margeotes; five people from Mass Transmit (two programmers, two designers, and one manager); and from Bacardi Global Brands, Marketing Manager Cristi Moser and Global Manager of Online Marketing and E-Commerce Gary Chau.