2025 Crocodile Awards
Best Food & Beverage Campaign
– 1800 Tequila –
Through strategic partnerships with Melbourne Fashion Week and the ARIAs, we aligned 1800 Tequila Cristalino with premium sophistication, connecting the brand directly with Australia’s aspirational “Cool Hunters.” Our strategic integration of targeted visibility, influencer engagement, dynamic media, and highly targeted messaging significantly increased brand affinity, awareness, and perceptions of versatility. This premium-focused approach exceeded industry benchmarks, positioning 1800 Tequila as the second fastest-growing tequila brand within the top ten competitors. Brand tracking results showed 1800 leading in awareness, consideration, and usage preference within its competitive set, clearly demonstrating the campaign’s excellence and alignment with the Crocodile Awards criteria.
Insights and Strategy
Insights revealed significant opportunities in positioning 1800 Tequila within aspirational, lifestyle-driven experiences beyond traditional spirit occasions. Our strategic approach centred around premium alignments, utilising cultural moments at Melbourne Fashion Week and the ARIA Awards to strengthen affinity and awareness among influential Australian audiences.
To maximise the impact, we structured our strategy around two distinct yet complementary layers:
1. Awareness Layer: Focused on creating impactful, premium visibility through carefully selected influencers, dynamic outdoor placements, and targeted digital content. A strategic social giveaway further amplified awareness, seamlessly connecting 1800 Tequila with premium experiences.
2. Consideration Layer: Focused on highlighting product versatility through key event activations, showcasing how 1800 Tequila, particularly Cristalino, complemented a variety of premium drinking occasions, appealing to both white spirit drinkers and whisky drinkers seeking refreshing alternatives.
Our strategy emphasised premium positioning rather than luxury, aligning closely with our consumers’ desire for accessible yet aspirational experiences. This clear distinction resonated authentically with our audience, solidifying 1800 Tequila’s premium positioning and reinforcing its place within Australian drinking occasions.
Execution and Audience Engagement
Execution was anchored by prominent sponsorship placements at Melbourne Fashion Week and the ARIA Awards, clearly communicating the premium appeal and versatility of 1800 Tequila. Strategic branding at these key events included high-impact outdoor placements, engaging venue activations, and carefully curated influencer partnerships designed to authentically amplify brand visibility.
For Melbourne Fashion Week, we executed high-impact outdoor placements in strategic event precincts to ensure maximum relevance and premium visibility. Tailoring our outdoor messaging with suburb-specific copy, such as “Stylish Taste, From Mexico to St Kilda” and “Stylish Taste, From Mexico to Richmond” created hyper-localised connections, enhancing consumer resonance and engagement.
Our partnership also included co-branded design elements, enhancing credibility and authenticity. These thoughtfully integrated co-branded designs provided an additional layer of trust and relevance, showcasing the brand’s genuine connection to key cultural moments and premium lifestyle spaces.
We further leveraged Blis audience targeting combined with geo-fencing around key retailers like Dan Murphy’s to drive proximity-driven consideration. Simultaneously, we executed a social competition offering double passes to Melbourne Fashion Week, significantly boosting brand interaction and social visibility.
Our multifaceted approach, carefully balancing awareness-building outdoor placements with deeper engagement through influencer-driven, contextually relevant digital activations, allowed 1800 Tequila to authentically connect with our audience, positioning the brand firmly within premium drinking occasions.
Results and Impact
The strategic and premium execution of the 1800 Tequila campaign delivered significant and measurable results. Firmly establishing itself as the second fastest-growing tequila brand among Australia’s top ten tequila brands, 1800 achieved a notable 22% year-over-year sales growth.
Critically, brand tracking via Tracksuit demonstrated clear improvements within the competitive set:
• Brand Awareness rose to #1 (previously #2)
• #1 in Conversion from Awareness to Consideration
• #1 in Conversion from Usage to Preference
Significantly, affinity metrics rose by 4 percentage points compared to the previous tracking period (L3M Tracksuit data), directly attributable to the campaign activity.
These impressive outcomes resulted from our precisely targeted strategy aligning 1800 Tequila with premium lifestyle experiences at Melbourne Fashion Week and the ARIA Awards. This approach drove both strong visibility and meaningful affinity among our target demographic, clearly positioning 1800 Tequila as the ideal choice for aspirational, mid-tempo drinking occasions.
It’s important to acknowledge this campaign as the vision of our clients, Andrew & Annabelle, working seamlessly in partnership with Awaken Media. The strategic collaboration effectively showcased how a strong client-agency relationship can yield impactful results that resonate deeply with target audiences.
The premium positioning strategy significantly elevated brand perception, affinity, and consumer consideration. Through thoughtful partnerships, targeted media executions, and carefully structured activations, the campaign authentically positioned 1800 Tequila as the preferred versatile choice for Australia’s “Cool Hunters,” driving both immediate sales growth and sustained brand preference within a highly competitive market.
Thank you…