German alcoholic drink Jägermeister, official sponsor of London Cocktail Week 2018, is showcasing the complexity of its 56 herbs and spices with a collection of cocktails, ice cold shots, events and workshops at a pop-up forest activation in Big Chill, Brick Lane.

Jägermeister’s Der Wald Bar, located on the Big Chill terrace, a three-minute walk from the LCW cocktail village at the Truman Brewery, will transport cocktail lovers to a contemporary German forest setting where they will be able to enjoy a selection of cocktails and Jägermeister Ice Cold Shots, served at -18°.

Jägermeister UK brand ambassador, Florian Beuren, plus special guests, will be running a series of free interactive workshops at the Meister Akademy in Big Chill, including ice sculpting, urban foraging, cocktail “meisterclasses” and top-tips for DIY home cocktail making.

Exclusive Jägermeister cocktails and ice-cold shots will be available around the capital at select bars including MNKY HSE, The Racketeer, Shep’s, Big Chill, 46 & Mercy. Jäger Soho, Jägermeister and Soho Radio’s collaborative space, will host a series of pop-ups from innovative cocktail makers and bars including Kelvingrove Café and Tony Rowlands of Salt Dog Slims and Santa Chupitos Liverpool.

Nicole Goodwin, Marketing Director for Mast-Jaegermeister UK, comments: “An inherently complex spirit, Jägermeister naturally lends itself to being enjoyed as an ice-cold shot, as well as being used for experimentation and cocktail creation. We’re delighted to be continuing as official sponsors of London Cocktail Week and partnering with Big Chill as our festival venue.  This year, we’ve curated cocktails and experiences that we think surprise and excite consumers, ultimately inviting them to reimagine the possibilities of Jägermeister.”

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The Kraken Black Spiced Rum has partnered with Kinetic, the UK’s leading out-of-home (OOH) agency, to bring the brand’s iconic mythical beast to life on the streets of East London as part of a major new creative 3D OOH campaign.

Activity will run across digital channels throughout the four-week duration of the campaign and influencers will encourage followers to visit the mural for promotional giveaways.

Those tagging themselves with the beast will also be in with a chance of winning a range of amazing prizes, from diving courses to mural masterclasses, as well as free cocktails to redeem at participating bars.

The out-of-the-ordinary execution, named The Kraken Mural, will see photorealistic artwork of the mystical sea beast wrapping its tentacles around the side of The Great Eastern Wall Gallery on Great Eastern Street in Shoreditch. The artwork is set to turn heads of an estimated 2.1 million people who pass by the site each month and encourage sharing on social channels.

The dramatic design will incorporate a unique 3D element, with the Kraken’s terrifying tentacles emerging from the mural to occupy the space above the roof of the building.

The creation of The Kraken Mural began on 16th July, with photography and time-lapse video previewing the artwork across The Kraken Rum’s social media channels as it builds towards completion on 19th July – remaining on display until 12th August.

On 26th July, the brand is bringing back its legendary Kraken Crawl to celebrate the launch of the mural, which will visit five of the area’s most popular bars for its loyal rum fans to sample cocktails paired perfectly with the location to get a true taste of London’s East End.

Suren Sathiaraj, Creative Account Manager for Kinetic Active, says: “We know that the legendary sea beast the Kraken can’t be contained within a mural – which is why we needed to do something unique for this campaign. The 3D element really adds a splash of surprise and drama, bringing the legend of the Kraken to life and putting a creative out-of-home element right at the heart of this multi-channel campaign.”

Kinetic is the world’s largest planner and digital innovator of Out-of-Home advertising, using mobile and social, location-based experiences and in-transit to deliver new ways to make OOH interactive and amplifiable.

Kinetic is a global agency within WPP’s tenthavenue, serving hundreds of agencies and brands.

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Diageo-owned global vodka brand Smirnoff is working with music streaming platform Spotify to promote equality for women musicians around the world through the launch of its new Smirnoff Equalizer campaign, which features an app that allows Spotify subscribers to analyse their playlists and find out what the balance between male and female artists is.

According to Spotify data, none of the top 10 most-streamed tracks in 2017 were performed by women artists or bands, which is why the vodka brand and the music service have teamed up.

The Smirnoff Equalizer analyses Spotify users’ listening habits to provide them with a percentage breakdown of the number of men versus women artists they have listened to in the previous six months before providing an equalized playlist tailored just for them, where artists of both genders are equally represented.

Users can also make use of a personalised slider, which allows them to increase the number of women artists in their playlists. The innovative platform was debuted at Smirnoff’s “Phenomenal You” launch event, held on March 1^st, 2018 in New York City, one week before International Women’s Day.

Neil Shah, Smirnoff Global Senior Brand Manager, says: “We developed the Smirnoff Equalizer in partnership with Spotify because we believe that when we get to discover talented women artists and their phenomenal music, we’ll all have a better listening experience. The Smirnoff Equalizer not only drives awareness, but also allows Spotify users to take direct action by increasing the number of tracks from women artists in their playlists.”

The goal behind the Smirnoff Equalizer is to get more people listening to more women artists. The bigger their fan bases become, the more opportunities they will have to perform and succeed. The Smirnoff Equalizer platform will run through the summer and can be accessed by Spotify users of a legal drinking age in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, Mexico and Argentina.

One of the artists featured in the Smirnoff Equalizer is Honey Dijon, an African-American transgender woman who is a vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ and women’s rights and highly respected for her musical heritage and curated DJ sets that defy genres. She will appear in the platform to share her experiences facing gender bias in the music industry.

The Smirnoff Equalizer is the latest initiative from Smirnoff’s “Equalizing Music” campaign, which the brand announced in 2017 with the goal of doubling the number of women festival headliners by 2020. As an extension of this effort, Smirnoff has also partnered with Global Radio and Live Nation to equalize festival line-ups across Europe with performances by women DJs.

“We are very proud that Smirnoff once again chose Spotify as its brand partner for the ‘Equalizing Music’ campaign,” said Danielle Lee, Vice President, Global Head of Partner Solutions at Spotify. “We share Smirnoff’s goal to improve gender diversity in music, and for all the artists, songwriters and producers who create it.”

The launch event for the new API in New York City was themed around “Phenomenal You” with Smirnoff encouraging each woman to celebrate the inherent power of women across the world, starting with themselves.

At the event, Smirnoff unveiled new special edition “Phenomenal You” bottles for Smirnoff No. 21 vodka which are being gifted to 100 phenomenal women around the world, along with a donation made in each of their names to She Runs It, a charity which helps women move into leadership roles.

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As part of the latest version of its Stay Smooth campaign, Whyte & Mackay whisky is taking a “wry and witty look at the real folk of both Glasgow and Edinburgh” that have helped shape the brand’s smooth taste and character, and is again working with award-winning Scottish photographer, David Boni.

The campaign, which launched earlier this month, sees the creation of a series of quirky and fun posters of real people and a coffee-table magazine, which will be distributed on streets and in key bars across both cities, plus new POS kits and promotional scratch cards for the on trade. There is also an instant win competition with 5,000 free drams as prizes and a text to win competition with the star prize of the chance for one fan to create their own whisky.

The magazine and accompanying poster campaign feature innovative AR technology, bringing to life four of the featured characters.  The campaign will also see a number of giant static mirrors located in selected bars and prime outdoor street spots in each city, providing people with a glimpse of their own reflection and reminding them to ‘Stay Smooth’. Whyte & Mackay is promoting the activity via social media including Twitter.

Whyte & Mackay mirrors and the accompanying poster campaign will be running in city centre locations, with the magazines and on-trade promotion kits available in nearly 100 bars across Glasgow and Edinburgh.

To enter the competition, people have to buy a Whyte & Mackay at a participating outlet and text in to tell the brand what makes them Surprisingly Smooth in 10 words or less. The most original entry, as judged by Whyte & Mackay, will win.

The star prize includes return train travel to Glasgow from any UK mainland railway station for two people, one night’s accommodation, £250 spending money and a whisky blending and tasting session.

For the ‘instant Win’ promotion, people will get scratchcards when they buy a whisky at participating venues – the prizes come in the form of vouchers to be redeemed for a single measure of Whyte & Mackay Scotch Whisky.

The Scotch whisky brand also announced earlier this month that it will be the new headline sponsor of Glasgow’s International Comedy Festival for 2018. The long-running festival will from next year be known as the Whyte & Mackay Glasgow International Comedy Festival. Big names from the stand-up comedy world including David Baddiel, Bridget Christie, Des Clarke, Tommy Tiernan, Katherine Ryan and Rob Delaney have already been signed up to feature in 2018.

Finally, Whyte & Mackay is also running a trade promotion offering retailers or bar owners who buy any mix of three cases of brands including Claymore, Vladivar, Whyte & Mackay, Glayva, Tamnavulin or Jura in one transaction the chance to enter a competition to win a Peugeot van and £500 of Whyte & Mackay stock. At least two of the cases must be of price marked packs. The trade promotion is running until the end of January 2018 at participating cash & carry depots.

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