William Grant & Sons has kicked off its second annual Hendrick’s gin global travel retail World Cucumber Day campaign – which culminates on June 14 – in celebration of the signature garnish.

In GTR Hendrick’s has created its own travelling ‘Cucumber Curiositarium’ which includes a selection of individual cucumber specimens ‘uncovered by expert cucumber catchers’ that are presented in display jars for travellers to marvel at in airports around the world.

This year’s campaign started at Amsterdam Schiphol during March and in the weeks leading up to ‘the big day’ on 14 June sees activations with retailers at key airports around the world including Auckland, Melbourne and Perth, Changi, Barcelona and Madrid, London Gatwick, Dubai, Frankfurt & Hamburg, Taoyuan, and Brussels. In addition, curious cucumbers will take a cruise on three Carnival ships with Heinemann in May and June.

Localised Curiositarium’s have been created for specific airports, such ‘The Dam Cucumber (Specimen No 7) Indigenous to Amsterdam, and ‘The Tubular Cucumber (Specimen No 9) for Melbourne and Sydney.

“Our World Cucumber Day mission is to invite consumers into the Hendrick’s brand world and to reaffirm ownership of the signature cucumber serve,” explains brand owner William Grant & Sons GTR head of marketing Ifan Jenkins.

The new campaign in place at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.

DISRUPTING THE PASSENGER JOURNEY

“We want to disrupt passengers as they travel through the airports and brighten up their day with some unexpected fun moments.

“Our primary targets for this campaign are curious consumers who delight in the unusual. We are also expecting to recruit new consumers at scale and engage a broader audience with our unique brand world and exquisite liquid.”

Activation mechanics will vary by airport location, but will include a number of unusual and peculiar GWP items such as specially designed Curiositarium carry cases, fans, playing cards and neck tags.

Last year’s first World Cucumber Day campaign ran in 37 airports, reaching 70 million passengers in 10 weeks.

“This year we are activating in more airports with greater scale than before,” continues Ifan Jenkins. “The travel retail channel is a global stage for building brand equity and activations such as this are the perfect way to both create personality for William Grant’s disruptive brands such as Hendrick’s and engage directly with passengers through unique retail experiences.

“We anticipate that this year’s World Cucumber Day campaign will be even more successful than last year, both for us and our retail partners. Along with tailored cucumber specimens for specific airport locations, we also have a dedicated microsite this year to further delight, entertain and inform our curious consumers.”

The microsite is now live here www.worldcucumberday.com with hashtag links:

#Hendrick’sGin

#WorldCucumberDay