Published by isobel.regan@dontpanicprojects.com
Published Date 24.07.2024 
There’s no better feeling than hearing the words ‘you’ve been shortlisted’ – well, ask us that again after the awards ceremony… The entire team at Richmond & Towers has been busy celebrating the announcement that our work has been shortlisted for the renowned 2024 UK Social Media Awards.
As a London based B Corp and employee-owned PR and social agency, this recognition is a testament to our industry knowledge, creativity, and strategic execution in the digital landscape. Our nominated campaign, ‘Brooklyn Brewery’s Summer of Music,’ not only achieved remarkable results, but also resonated deeply with target audiences, blending brand values with cultural relevance in a seamless and impactful way.
With its origins in NYC’s Brooklyn, we had a different backstory to the majority of ‘Premium World Beers’, most of which are marketed alongside food. In this gastro-obsessed category, we saw that no brand was playing in the music space to any kind of scale. Hello, opportunity to differentiate and stand out, by not fitting in.
Our communications platform, ‘Brooklyn Pilsner’s Summer of Music’ put two music partnerships at the heart of the campaign – leveraging the powerful voices of Universal Music and Glastonbury, because we don’t do things by halves. Harnessing Pilsner’s unmissable visual identity, we were set and ready to make its voice heard (music pun intended).
Moreover, Brooklyn Pilsner’s distinctive identity, characterised by its vibrant yellow packaging and NYC-inspired graffiti, allowed us to create a striking visual tone. This bold aesthetic became the cornerstone of our campaign’s visual and creative strategy. Our ambition was to create valuable, shareable content that could break through the noise and engage our audience meaningfully, communicating with fans and new recruits via Instagram, Facebook and X, also leveraging YouTube as a dominant platform for music video consumption.
Central to our multi-faceted campaign was a hero piece of content, a ‘short film’ documentary featuring Joy Anonymous, a dynamic duo experiencing a rapid rise to fame, having toured with the dance artist of 2023, Fred Again. The YouTube documentary, shot between Brooklyn and London, chronicled their journey from through various urban locations in NYC and across the UK. The film followed themes of diversity, inclusivity, community, and joy.
We maximised the documentary’s reach through a series of strategically timed social media peaks, teaser videos, editorial interviews with cultural and music media outlets like Wonderland and Culted, geo-tagged content, and user-generated content. The campaign also featured influencer collaborations, sold-out sessions at EartH in Hackney, fan pop-up gigs at Young’s pubs, and exclusive events, such as an album and documentary launch party at Below Stone Nest.
Brooklyn Pilsner also landed the high-regarded title of ‘the Official Beer of Glastonbury Festival 2023’ which presented us with ample opportunity to continue to drive this narrative with strength, intrinsically linking the beer music, and cementing its position at the heart of drinking occasions in this space (the world’s largest greenfield music festival, no less).
With Glastonbury tickets in high demand (no surprises there!), our ticket giveaway on Brooklyn Brewery’s Instagram became a highly coveted prize. This giveaway, supported by influencer content themed around festival prepping and at-home viewing parties, significantly boosted engagement and off-trade purchase of the beer. The cherry on top, a paid partnership with Metro timed to coincide with Joy Anonymous’s Glastonbury performance, which amplified our reach even further.
The ‘Brooklyn Brewery Summer of Music’ campaign was crafted with objectives to generate 500k+ views on the YouTube series within the first month, a 5% average influencer engagement rate, and to surpass benchmarks for paid partnership impressions.
Drumroll please… The ‘Brooklyn Brewery Summer of Music’ campaign exceeded all expectations, achieving remarkable results: prompted brand awareness increased by 23%, 100% positive sentiment, a total campaign reach of 53,244,967, with the Joy Anonymous documentary views surpassed 851k on YouTube, with a total of 8 million views across all campaign-related content.
More for more, influencer engagement exceeded KPIs by 233%, engagement rates increased by 75.6% through ticket competitions, paid partnerships hit new highs – with our NME partnership generating 9.4% impressions versus the magazine’s 0.2% benchmark, our Glastonbury social media influencers achieved a 7.9% engagement rate.
The most important bit? Off-trade and on-trade distribution points of Brooklyn Pilsner increased by 157% and 238%, respectively, and off-trade sales captured a 3.1% volume share of the Premium World Beer category. Phew.
This campaign defined Brooklyn Pilsner’s identity in its debut season, creating a vibrant and engaging presence that resonated with our audience. By forging authentic collaborations and creating genuinely ownable moments, we brought the brand’s values to life, seamlessly integrating creativity, diversity, inclusivity, and community into the cultural zeitgeist.
Being shortlisted for the 2024 Social Media Awards is a tremendous honour, validating our innovative approach and determination to seeing successful campaigns through, from ‘team brainstorm’ to ‘wrap report’, for our clients. Looking forward, we remain committed to pushing the boundaries of creativity and consumer engagement, continuing to ideate and implement campaigns that exceed expectations.
