THE CHALLENGE

Johnnie Walker’s F1 McLaren Mercedes sponsorship required an amplification strategy to help drive visibility of the global sponsorship and further impact target consumers around the world. Given Diageo’s commitment to social responsibility and educating consumers on responsible drinking, a ‘drink responsibly’ campaign was conceived to generate excitement around the global sponsorship while educating consumers on the importance of drinking responsibly. The communications team signed two-time F1 champion Mika Hakkinen as brand ambassador to raise awareness for the new campaign called ‘Join the Pact’, featuring a call to action encouraging consumers to sign the Pact not to drink and drive.

THE WORK

Several activations which leveraged Mika Hakkinen’s ambassadorship were implementedaround the world to promote the amplification strategy of Join the Pact. Mika was pivotal at driving awareness through a media tour, press conferences, event appearances, interviews and PR stunts such as shutting down the streets of Sao Paulo to race an F1 replica along with local KOLs and media. Dialogue served as the supporting agency to the LATAM specific efforts in conjunction with other agencies. To further generate buzz and excitement, a consumer promotion was also implemented that brought 20 winners from Brazil and other LATAM countries to a tour of McLaren Technical Centre, as well as racing lessons at Silverstone in London which culminated in rides with Mika around (and at times off the track). Dialogue served as on-the-ground support for the consumer event and press conference at Silverstone.

THE RESULTS

In addition to the millions of target consumers reached through the above activities, more than a million consumers around the world signed the Pact to not drink and drive, an epic feat that both Johnnie Walker and Diageo were immensely proud of.