Hailing from the former Soviet state of Georgia, Eristoff Vodka takes its marketing cues from its homeland—a country supposedly once referred to as the land of the wolf—with a logo and advertising campaign centered around wolves. To play up its quirky sensibility and introduce the spirit to the U.S., the Bacardi-owned brand brought 20 dancers in canine costumes to the meatpacking district for a flash-mob-style stunt at 11:30 p.m. on Thursday. The publicity ploy was produced by Harrison & Shriftman and timed to take advantage of the appearance of a full moon, as well as the neighborhood's late-night, clubgoing crowds.
Comprised of three groups—a quartet of men dressed as male wolves and two eight-person packs of she-wolves—the troupe from Sugar & Spice emerged from branded taxis onto Ninth Avenue's small pedestrian area outside the Gaslight lounge. The performance, which lasted about four minutes, was accompanied by music that matched the costumes, including Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "She Wolf" by Shakira.
The guerrilla promotion, overseen by Eristoff Vodka brand director Joseph Metevier, was devised to generate awareness amongst the brand's key demographic of younger drinkers and supplemented by social media efforts. "It was about creating a platform from which we could capture content to spread virally," said Harrison & Shriftman creative director Ryan Jordan. To that end, Jordan's team used Twitter and Facebook to promote the stunt beforehand and filmed the dancers on Flip video cameras. The footage was posted to Vimeo and YouTube the following day.
