Virtual event that generated buzz with media and influencers

Canadian Club’s 43-Year-Old ‘The Speakeasy’ is Canada’s oldest aged whisky. For its launch, PRAXIS recommended recreating an in-person ‘speakeasy’ experience for Canadian media, influencers and key opinion leaders to bring the product’s moniker to life. Due to COVID, an in-person event was not possible, so PRAXIS pivoted the program to the digital space and committed to providing the same level of excitement and engagement.

PRAXIS created a digital tasting experience that remained true to the product’s ‘Speakeasy’ history. To enable at-home, liquid-to-lips sampling, and to breakthrough during a time when many brands were delivering media kits, PRAXIS developed and delivered 50 ultra-premium Speakeasy-themed tasting kits to key opinion leaders across the country.

The kit included a locked branded wooden box encasing three whisky samples, a branded Prohibition-era whisky flask and custom welcome letter. Accompanying the box was a premium Da Vinci decoder requiring a six-letter word to open and access the key to the box. An answer key was revealed the day prior to the event via a spinning decoder GIF sent to each recipient. This provided participants with the same feeling of anticipation as waiting outside a real Speakeasy door, eagerly waiting to get inside.

PRAXIS used a digital platform to create an elevated tasting experience beginning with a custom hype-video played at the beginning of the event to set the stage and ground guests in the Prohibition theme. Participants watched, listened and learned from Canadian Club Brand Ambassador Tish Harcus as she guided them through a tutored tasting of Canadian Club Classic 12 Year Old, Canadian Club 42 Year Old and Canadian Club 43 Year Old. Polling questions were asked throughout the event and real-time results were displayed on-screen in a variety of ways including word clouds and bar graphs. The event attracted 72 highly influential guests from across the country for an average watch time of 32 minutes (total run time was 34 minutes).

• Mass awareness via 18.8 million media impressions
• Liquid-to-lips with premium sampling and 72 guests
• Brand ambassadors with 526K organic social media impressions

PRAXIS recommended expanding the event invitees to include social media influencers, grassroots key opinion leaders and whisky experts, alongside traditional media members. This approach allowed for a wider end-audience cross-section, driving coverage in a variety of channels.