Happy Feet

Alize. There is a good chance you haven’t heard of it. It’s a premium liquor that blends passion fruit with cognac. I can tell you Alize is delicious on the rocks, and also makes a great martini, a refreshing margarita, and a fantastic mimosa. I can point to sales charts showing Alize as one of the hottest-selling brands for three years running.

So why haven’t you heard of it? Because Alize is an off-premise urban market champion. If you know DMX or the Notorious B.I.G., you know Alize. (If not, you’re missing out on good music and a good drink.) Our client, Kobrand Corp., challenged us to bring Alize mainstream into the on-premise general market, a vast field of opportunity lying fallow.

We immersed ourselves in the brand. Our research included interviews with Alize’s distribution and sales forces, and showed that the martini would be a perfect vehicle to introduce the brand. The martini works on several levels. Classic cocktails are in favor, the brand has an upscale target, and Alize tastes great in a martini.

We had to entice bar managers to buy into a brand they considered an unproven product. I found our idea one evening in Buenos Aires, where I saw a tango demonstration in the lobby of the city’s Hyatt Hotel. Alize Tango Nights were born, fusing the dance of passion with Alize, the drink of passion. We had professional dancers choreograph a signature routine that would demand club patrons’ attention. We cut a special CD to be played on bar and club sound systems to introduce the performance, then invited patrons to sample the Alize Passionate Martini.

We also developed table tents, posters, hats, and staff shirts, as well as “How to Dance the Tango” booklets and branded silk roses for all patrons. The program is running in 12 major markets into 2001, and has appeared in accounts that normally shun on-premise promotions, notably New York’s Windows On The World and the Waldorf-Astoria.