When Smirnoff launched its #PurePotential campaign, promising that the company could see potential for a yummy cocktail in any ingredient, I thought the idea was romantic but unrealistic.
At the time, after looking at the ingredients I had available, I mused:
“While I wouldn’t give them the task of making a cocktail from the leftovers in my fridge (several hardened nubs of cheese, eggs, half a chocolate éclair and a strip of streaky bacon), I must admit this campaign is pretty appealing……if anyone from Smirnoff can come up with a cocktail using the ingredients from my fridge, I’ll shout them a drink.”
I guess I owe Smirnoff’s ‘mixologists’ a drink.
Smirnoff has since launched the second round of its campaign by Special Group, which invites the public to post a picture on Instagram of the inside of their fridge.
Smirnoff’s dedicated mixologists then go online to the “Instagram bar” between the hours of 6 and 10pm and mix up a refreshing beverage from the ingredients they can see in the public’s fridges.
Special Group senior account director Annabel Rees says the campaign should get people thinking more creatively when they look into the big white abyss.
“The Instagram promotion is a really clever way to demonstrate that Smirnoff sees potential in any ingredient to make a great drink. You’ll never look at your fridge in the same way again,” she says.
Since the campaign launched, one week ago today, Smirnoff’s mixologist Dickie Cullimore has created about twenty unique mixtures from the fridges of Kiwis.
Special partnered with director Arvid Eriksson to create the Instagram films and Young & Shand to run the Instagram Bar and it also paired up with FM radio station ZM for a Friday night special, with mixologist Dickie in the studio creating some Smirnoff concoctions live on the air.
“Cocktails made in the first week included classics like a White Russian (milk) and Harvey Wall Banger (orange juice) through to some truly bizarre new creations – PBJ (peanut butter and jelly), Passionfruit Whip (canned peaches), a Bloody Mary served in a whole capsicum, and a Texan Mary (Fried chicken, bacon and BBQ sauce),” Smirnoff says.
And there’s more in it for engaged Smirnoff fans than just learning how to create a silk purse of a cocktail out of a sow’s ear of a fridge-situation. Fridge instagrammers entered the draw to win tickets to New Year’s Eve festival Rhythm and Vines.
The only setback for me engaging with the campaign was an under-recognised condition known as fridge-shame.
When Smirnoff’s mixologists invited me to Instagram my fridge, I got my phone out, opened Instagram and my fridge door, and was struck by fear (or was it the smell of something past it’s used by?). Either way – it was a no go for me, personally, although I will be trying the Mexi Mary – the Bloody Mary served in a whole red pepper.
See more creations below:
