Challenger to Watch: Aviation Gin
In 2019, Aviation Gin wasn’t only a fascinating challenger brand in the world of premium spirits… it was one of the best-marketed brands on the planet. Of course, like a lot of celeb-owned brands, it leveraged the face and name of its part-owner, Ryan Reynolds. But it also brought biting wit, opportunism and irreverence to our screens. It’s a luxury brand, earning its premium through meme-ability instead of through a long pedigree.
Reynolds, most famous for his action-comedy turn in Deadpool, is used to glorious effect. Unlike many other celebrity spirit tie-ins, Aviation hasn’t resorted to cheesy product shots (a la Bill Murray in “Lost in Translation”), nor does it belabour the Creative Director role, with some Hollywood A-Lister being filmed bothering the poor distillers who very clearly have better things to do. Peter Field and Les Binet identified “Unusual use of celebrity” and “Outlandish humour” as key strategies for generating fame, and Aviation does both of these with aplomb.
At the end of 2018, the brand skewered the industry’s ridiculous “process” ads with Reynold’s trademark sarcasm.
In February, Reynolds used his long-standing “social media war” with Hugh Jackman to create an ad, where ostensibly the Australian’s coffee company would be advertised by Reynolds, and Jackman would make an ad for Aviation in return. The ad has received over 8m views on YouTube.
In November, Aviation created the TurDuckEn of advertising by placing an ad inside a Samsung TV ad, next to a Netflix ad… Confusing? Perhaps, but a fantastic collaboration for Aviation, getting two behemoths to pay for exposure (likely in exchange for Reynold’s own cache).
But perhaps the brand’s greatest coup of the year? In December, home exercise brand Peloton’s “The Gift That Gives Back” Christmas advert went viral for all the wrong reasons. Was it misogynistic? Dystopian? Just terrible? Frankly, a little bit of all three… The internet went crazy and Peloton’s shares dropped 9% in a day (chill out, people...). But like any great challenger, Aviation saw the opportunity in someone else's misfortune, and it rode that infamy as much as it could.
Within days, Aviation had tracked down the actress from the Peloton ad and had featured her front and centre in an ad called “The Gift That Doesn’t Give Back”, which played like a sequel to the spinning brand’s own film (one where the central character had perhaps ditched the man who surprised her with an exercise bike). It earned 10m Twitter views and 5.7m YouTube views in a week, all without a cent spent on media.
What does 2020 hold for Aviation? God only knows. And that’s why I’m so looking forward to it.