Learn more
Learn more
In 2023, Grey Goose briefed Example to build cultural authority in the Australian premium vodka market. The brand had strong global equity but needed to earn genuine relevance in a competitive, sophisticated drinks landscape.
The result: 670% year-on-year growth in earned media reach. 408 million total earned impressions. Coverage across every major Australian lifestyle, food, and drinks publication. A brand that went from category presence to category leadership in its earned media position.
This is what we did and why it worked.
The stated brief was campaign support for a specific seasonal activation. The real brief was bigger: how does Grey Goose become the premium vodka brand that Australian media, influencers, and consumers genuinely want to talk about?
That is a different brief. It requires a different strategy. And it requires a longer commitment than a single campaign.
Most drinks brand campaigns are built around paid reach: advertising, sponsorship, placement. Example built Grey Goose's strategy around earned reach: coverage, conversation, and cultural association that the brand didn't have to buy.
The framework had three components.
1. Anchor to culture, not product. The work connected Grey Goose to the cultural moments that the premium Australian consumer actually cared about: the Australian Open, Melbourne Cup, high-end dining, and the broader premium hospitality world. Not as a sponsor in the traditional sense — as a genuine participant.
2. Build credibility with media and influencers before asking for coverage. Most PR efforts lead with the ask. Example led with value: access, experience, and genuine stories worth telling. The result was media and influencer relationships built on reciprocal respect, not transactional exchange.
3. Treat every activation as a content engine. Each event, each partnership, each moment was designed to generate content — not just experience. Photography, video, and media-ready stories were built into every execution.
670% year-on-year growth in earned media reach. 408 million total impressions. Coverage across Vogue, Gourmet Traveller, Broadsheet, Time Out, and every major drinks and lifestyle publication in Australia.
Grey Goose moved from a premium brand with strong awareness to a culturally embedded brand with genuine earned authority in the Australian market.
