On Thursday, Hennessy hosted a private event at Nellcôte to celebrate the launch of its new ad campaign, "The Chase." With print images and television spots featuring singer Erykah Badu, filmmaker Martin Scorsese, and boxer Manny Pacquiao, "the campaign encourages us to pursue our potential, chase our elusive dreams … and seek greatness in all that we do," said Deirdre Laughlin, the regional marketing director for Moët Hennessy U.S.A.'s central region. The campaign was designed, she said, "to reestablish the brand's swagger and ignite growth of the brand with its young, urban consumer target."
At the Chicago event, a small group of media gathered early in the evening to partake in a mixology demonstration with Jordan Bushell, a Hennessy trade specialist. Planners designed the activity to get the influential crowd fully engaged with the product. "Guests will not only have the opportunity to enjoy sampling Hennessy drinks, but will take part in creating their own," Laughlin said in the days leading up to the soiree. "They will assemble, mix, shake, and garnish one of the four featured recipes and bring [the product] to life in a very hands-on way." With names such as "The Filmmaker" and "The Music Icon," the drinks were inspired by the celebrities that appear in the ad campaign.
After the last cocktail had been shaken and poured, guests headed outside to interact with the ad campaign itself. On the venue's exterior wall, two side-by-side screens broadcast the 60-second television spots with Badu and Pacquiao. In the center of the screens, an interactive installation let guests and passerby take virtual boxing lessons with Pacquiao or singing lessons with Badu. Though only invited guests were invited to continue the evening inside—where more drinks flowed, a DJ spun, and R&B singer Melanie Fiona put on a 10 p.m. performance—the virtual activities were open to the public till the wee hours.
Participants in the boxing and singling lessons could instantly upload the experiences to their social media accounts, and planners certainly hoped they would. "The PR stunt is designed to appeal to our target consumers high indexing in social media," Laughlin said. A similar activation took place in Los Angeles on March 22, and New York's iteration is set for April 4.
