Adventurous Spirit. Bottled.
Ben Lomond Scottish Gin has been recognised as one of the world’s best tasting gins and we wanted to capture and explore its brand positioning – adventurous spirit – by creating content that would activate this and encourage their consumers to discover their own.
Brief
Ben Lomond Scottish Gin needed a more refined and cohesive brand communications strategy to elevate its market presence. They wanted us to adapt the way they spoke to their audiences, lead and direct brand activations and photoshoots, and ensure their adventurous spirit was encapsulated through each social and experiential touchpoint. And we had to consider all this for their organic and across paid posts too.
Background
Inspired by the breath taking beauty of Ben Lomond, they pride themselves on using botanicals native to the area – and even foraged from across their wilderness. The brand had a compelling origin story and had a truly distinctive gin, and we wanted to build on this to create a unified brand communications strategy and visual consistency. Over the last couple of years we have developed and refined how Ben Lomond Gin speak to their digital audiences and turned their brand plans into digital activations – all to fully capture their adventurous spirit.
Challenge
Refined Brand Comms Strategy:
- Conducted in-depth market research to understand the brand's target audience and competitive landscape.
- Developed a refined brand communications strategy that amplified Ben Lomond Scottish Gin's unique selling points, including its local botanicals and adventurous spirit.
- Created a cohesive brand narrative that could be consistently communicated across all platforms.
Creative Direction and Photoshoots:
- Led and directed a series of photoshoots in various locations, ensuring that the imagery captured that adventurous spirit, even if it was about trying new cocktails, new ingredients or venturing off the beaten track.
- At each stage of the creative process, we used strong brand visual cues and authentic props to create a strong visual connection between the gin and its ethos.
What we did
Curated Content and Social Media Posts:
- Developed a content calendar to ensure consistent and strategic posting, boosting audience engagement and brand visibility.
- Curated content that aligns with the brand's proposition and premium identity, selecting imagery and stories that resonate with the target audience.
- Wrote engaging social media content that encapsulate the brand's essence, using a tone and style that reflect their adventurous spirit.
Social and Experiential Touchpoints:
- Designed and implemented a social media strategy that included curated content, storytelling, and user engagement to build a loyal community.
- Developed experiential marketing campaigns that brought the brand's adventurous spirit to life.
- Ensured consistency in visual and narrative elements across all touchpoints, reinforcing the brand's identity and values.
Julie Lin
The purpose of this campaign was to explore the adventurous spirit of well-known Glasgow chef, Julie Lin with a focus on two Ben Lomond Gin Adventurous serves throughout the campaign. Julie Lin showcases the importance of food and drink bringing people together and how she takes inspiration from her heritage as well as those around her to create new recipes.
Mia Baker
Mia Baker is a golf content creator who embraces the continuous challenge of the game of golf. Mia's journey is an inspiring one to every aspiring golfer, from falling in love with the game, to the determination to keep on improving – and help more young women get into golf too. This collaboration was the first collaboration that supported Ben Lomond's sponsorship of The Open. We continue to activate the brand as the Official Gin of The Open.
John Muir Trust
A charity that's dedicated to the conservation, protection and restoration of the UK's wild places. The purpose of the John Muir Trust campaign was to showcase ‘The Explorer Series’, which begins at the first John Muir Trust location - Schiehallion. Ben Lomond Gin launched the limited-edition bottle, the first of this series, and our aim was to inspire the Ben Lomond Gin audience, focusing on key glimmers of adventure, allowing escape from everyday life, whilst supporting Ben Lomond Gin's charity efforts.
Alex Feechan
The female founder of the Findra Clothing outdoor brand is a true inspiration and puts sustainability at its heart. Telling Alex's story of adventure through her passion for mountain biking and creating a community in the town of Innerleithan, this campaign highlights the importance of story-telling through creativity, community and the outdoors.
Mother's Day Campaign
Our objective was to highlight the appeal of Ben Lomond Gin as a thoughtful gift, emphasising the personalisation options available for Ben Lomond Gin bottles. This campaign continued the brand's curated storytelling whilst driving sales through a key gifting calendar period.
The 152nd Open at Royal Troon and the AIG Women's Open at St Andrews
As the official partners of The 152nd Open at Royal Troon and the AIG Women's Open at St Andrews, the purpose of this campaign was to promote Ben Lomond's special edition gin by highlighting the unique connection between the gin and the natural elements of Royal Troon's legendary golf course. The main messaging of this campaign was to push beyond the boundaries and to embody the essence of the course's natural wonders and challenges.
Working in collaboration with Hannah Davies for this campaign was a natural fit for Ben Lomond Gin. Pushing boundaries within her sport, Hannah's inspiring work helps to motivate and give confidence to other women to take part in golf around the world, amplifying her very own adventurous spirit.
Danny Campbell
The founder of HOKO Design Studio and Scotland's Home of the Year judge, Danny Campbell, brings his adventurous spirit to life by transforming how residential architecture is delivered, in a bold, versatile and innovative way.
Our campaign brought Danny’s vision of adventurous spirit to life with Ben Lomond Gin in a creative and impactful way for digital audiences through the creation of compelling content for organic and paid social.
Results
The results speak for themselves, but to achieve them, we helped Ben Lomond Gin realign their creative strategy, art-directed product and lifestyle shoots, and even revamped their tone of voice to make their post copy more engaging and targeted to turn followers into advocates. We continue to work closely with Loch Lomond Group to bring the adventurous spirit of Ben Lomond Gin to life across their digital channels.
2023
- 2,310,254 reached.
- 6,994,848 impressions.
2024
- 5,842,603 reached.
- 20,467,195 impressions.
YOY
- Reach increased by 152.88%
- Impressions increased by 192.61%
Rebecca Fennell Global Brand Manager, Loch Lomond GroupWorking with Dog over the past few years has been a delightful experience as they have played a crucial role in shaping channel strategies, driving brand awareness and boosting e-commerce success for Ben Lomond Gin. The team has fully embraced the brand’s adventurous spirit, delivering bespoke digital toolkits that resonate with our target audience while consistently introducing fresh, innovative ideas underpinned by solid technical expertise. Whether it's scaling mountains to capture cut-through brand content, navigating the streets of Troon or Portrush to gather local insights that enhance the campaigns for our sponsorship of The Open, refining the user experience and technical aspects of our website, or providing reliable daily account support, the Dog team has consistently delivered exceptional results.