Check Ins Open at the Grey Goose Hotel

Grey Goose’s new creative platform “Grey Goose Hotel” with BBH USA puts a new twist on the idea of the Fluent Device, or recurring creative asset. It’s not a character or even a scenario, it’s a setting. Grey Goose Hotel is a place “where time slows down and pleasure is a necessity”, according to Global Brand Director Krystina Robinson.

The premium vodka brand’s choice of an elegant, European-style hotel as a setting for its ads opens up a range of storytelling possibilities. It also makes a strong statement about the brand by making a place like this its natural home – it’s upscale, sophisticated, but still somewhat playful.

This first ad “The Lastish Call”, stars Zoe Saldaña in a story that makes humorous use of the Grey Goose Hotel setting. Saldaña moves stealthily round the hotel late in the evening, finding things she needs – strawberries, glasses and of course Grey Goose – for a sneaky late night cocktail with her friends on the terrace. It looks like her plans have come to nothing when the concierge catches them – but it turns out he’s just brought the ice.

The ad mixes glamour, humor, aspirational living and celebrity into a seductive cocktail of its own, with the brand prominent and the campaign’s central idea of savoring, not managing the moment comes strongly through. Rather than dwell on Zoe Saldaña’s identity as a film star, the ad takes a more intimate and relatable approach, showing her as a young woman partying with friends. It’s a way of filling the ad with “between-ness”, that sense of human connection and interaction we know is a crucial element in effectiveness.

Ordinary viewers agree. Among the general public the ad scores 3.1-Stars, significantly higher than average for the US spirits category, and it also scores a Strong short-term Spike Rating. Thanks to the prominent branding, its Brand Fluency score is also well above the category norm. And the ad performs even better among spirits drinkers, obviously a core target for the brand.

What makes it effective? In Look Out, Orlando Wood identifies Character, Incident, and Place as three keys for unlocking effective storytelling in ads. Does the ad have a lead character the audience likes? Is there a central incident driving the story along? And does the ad happen in a recognizable and interesting place? Grey Goose can answer yes to all three, with a particular emphasis on Place with a setting which will set it apart.