Raising the bar for Massingberd-Mundy Distillery

Having worked with South Ormsby Estate for three years prior to the launch of the distillery, we had intimate knowledge of the estate’s Massingberd-Mundy brand of locally produced goods, the local area and its target markets.

This helped us to craft campaigns that made use of the estate’s existing reputation, customers and audiences and make the most of its wider activities to help promote the distillery.

Prior to the launch in 2020, we worked closely with the wider marketing and product team on the product’s branding and website content.

Both flagship bottles were to be named after figures from South Ormsby Estate’s history – Charles Burrell Massingberd and Marie-Jeanne Rapigeon. We researched the history of both figures and used this knowledge to emphasise and celebrate similarities between their characteristics to create attractive and informative back-of-the-bottle and online product descriptions.

For the public launch, we recognised that one of the greatest USPs was the head distiller, Tristan Jørgensen who had a fascinating career and who’s personality and clear passion for gin were great assets which could be used in our PR.

Building the brand to deliver strong online sales

We also knew from working on other Massingberd-Mundy brands that there was a supportive, engaged and receptive local market which could support the initial growth of the brand before we branched out to wider markets.

For our initial launch of the distillery and its first gin, we focused on the local audience and made Tristan the focus, celebrating his career-long goal of launching his own distillery. Meanwhile, we made the most of Tristan’s many contacts in the industry and social media ‘ginfluencers’ to share the news and promote the product through reviews.

We then shared a second press release promoting the launch of Marie-Jeanne’s Pink Gin. This was more focussed on the gin and the woman who inspired it, helping us to reach a much broader audience.

With a series of limited edition gins planned for the distillery’s second year, we made deals with a range of publishers who would review/feature the products in exchange for preview bottles. We also arranged competitions in target newspapers and magazines and secured a regular column in local newspapers and invited media to tour the distillery and sample upcoming products.

Meanwhile, the distillery and its products began to win a series of well regarded awards and accolades, which were helped to publicise through further press releases and social media announcements.

Through building its profile, the brand also gained the attention of the producers of BBC Countryfile, which came to the estate to film an entire episode, reaching an audience of millions.