Description

In Azerbaijan, there are intense competitions along vodka brands, but export vodkas and ‘selection habits’ dominate the market. In this case, starting communication of a local brand is going to be tough. It can be easily dissolved in the mixed market. Mamedoff Vodka is a new brand ready to launch. But this brand needs a significant strategy to become “recognizable”.

Create a unique message along Azerbaijan and make Mamedoff Vodka familiar with the 'vodka traditions'. Make a different way of launching an idea.

Adapt to the vodka drinking traditions in Azerbaijan. For instance, our campaign starts with drinking Mamedoff Vodka at 6 a.m. and eating Khash soup. Another step is to attract well-known faces. Since Azerbaijanis love entertainment, we have decided to invent a special day for celebration. Let everyone enjoy International Cheers Day!

We created a fake Cheers Day in Azerbaijan and trolled people about so-called celebration. We started with influencers and organically spread the campaign around the whole country. A day later, the truth was finally revealed; we introduced Mamedoff Vodka by the help of influencers and informed people about the following: "A day like this does not exist. But we do not need a specific day to have a good time, to talk or joke." We did our best to be highlighted in news, social media feeds, and people’s minds. We took street interviews and made people believe that Cheers Day was real. While asking 'What day do you think it is today?', some of them answered what we were waiting for - 'Today is International Cheers Day.' As you can see, creating awareness is very important.

The hashtag is the main data gathering tool. Besides, we collect data from influencers' shares as well. Organic news feeds, articles on news sites, and those on popular entertainment sites are major.
• Target audience (consumer demographics/individuals/organisations)
18-30-year-old male consumers who live all around Azerbaijan.
• Relevance to platform
Facebook is the major platform in Azerbaijan; it's more efficient than Instagram. Most influencers prefer Facebook to Instagram. Plus, we use Instagram, Twitter, news, and entertainment sites.

Influencers take the lead: they started the campaign and thanks to them it spread to news feeds. Most pages started reposting the fake Cheers Day. Street interviews also created reliability for the project.

It’s a one-day operation. In the morning, one influencer shot a video about celebrating the Cheers Day and challenged other influencers to join the celebration. Yes, in the morning because in Azerbaijan there is a tradition when some men get up at 6 a.m. to eat Khash soup and drink vodka. It's true, and it's delicious. It spread via influencers and their followers and became major news feeds on Facebook and other social media. Everybody started to celebrate Cheers Day; they even created memes about it. With organic reach, it became trending in Azerbaijan. The campaign became viral around the country, till the very moment we revealed the truth.


Reach: 800.000
Engagement: 420.000
Sales: 1-month sales are over 1.000.000 AZN (Azerbaijani Manat) ≈ 588,404.13 USD

We increased awareness, brand reputation, and sales.

This campaign did boost sales. For example, 500 ml Mamedoff Vodka is 7.90 AZN ≈ 4.65 USD. For a month duration, in the introduction phase, Mamedoff Vodka sales exceeded 1.000.000 AZN which equal to 127.000 bottles approximately. It's a record for Azerbaijani market. Perfect start for an unknown local brand!

Credits

Orkhan Kerimov, Project Coordinator
Ersan Karatas, Creative Director
Farhad Shabanov, Account Director
Mushfig Shiraliyev, Digital Group Head
Ulviyya Bashirova, Account Executive
Aysu Ibrahimli, Senior Copywriter
Nurlan Abdurahmanov, Copywriter
Ruslan Tyulin, Senior Art Director
Gulnar Rahimzade, Art Director
Elvin Muradxanli, Producer
Kamran Baylarov, Developer