Franklin & Sons: the Paloma Showdown

Franklin & Sons: the Paloma Showdown
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Case study · Food & Drink

The Paloma is one of the fastest-growing cocktails, and Paloma Week gave Franklin & Sons a moment to own it. We ran a Paloma Showdown across bars in Manchester and London, with the winning bar’s staff flown to Mexico. It earned six tier-one trade titles and 550,000 event video views.

  • 6 tier-one trade titles
  • 550K event video views
  • 15 pieces of coverage
  • 950K coverage circulation
Two hands toasting with Paloma cocktails made with Franklin & Sons Pink Grapefruit Soda
  • Client Franklin & Sons
  • Sector Premium mixers
  • Services Creative campaign, trade PR, influencer marketing
  • When Paloma Week
  • Audience Bartenders, bar operators and cocktail drinkers
  • Channels Bars, trade media, influencers, social video

What did Franklin & Sons need?

Franklin & Sons wanted to link its Pink Grapefruit Soda to the Paloma, a tequila and grapefruit cocktail, during Paloma Week.

  • Business objective: grow use of Pink Grapefruit Soda in bars.
  • Communication objective: position Franklin & Sons Pink Grapefruit Soda as the go-to mixer for the Paloma in trade media and with drinkers.

What was the insight?

Bartenders love to compete, and a good prize gets them talking. A competition puts the mixer in their hands and on their menus.

The idea was the Paloma Showdown.

What did we do?

  • A bar competition. Bars in Manchester and London created their own Paloma recipes with Pink Grapefruit Soda.
  • Footfall-driving. Drinkers visited to try the entries, bringing people into the bars.
  • A prize worth winning. The winning bar took its staff to Mexico.
  • PR and influencers. Three influencer partners and trade PR amplified the competition.

What did it achieve?

Results by stage of the AMEC evaluation framework, with the source for each figure.

Stage Measure Result Source
Outputs Pieces of media coverage 15 Prohibition coverage log
Outputs Tier-one trade titles 6 Prohibition coverage log
Outputs Coverage circulation 950K Prohibition coverage log
Outputs Influencer partnerships 3 Prohibition campaign reporting
Out-takes Event video views 550K Social platform analytics

What did Franklin & Sons get from it?

Ownership of a cocktail moment. Pink Grapefruit Soda was linked to the Paloma in six tier-one trade titles, and the event videos were watched 550,000 times.

What did we learn?

  • Let bartenders lead. Their recipes made the story, and their menus carried the product.
  • A big prize earns attention. Mexico gave the trade press a headline.
  • What we would do differently. track Pink Grapefruit Soda sales in the competing bars before and after, to show the effect on volume.