As they say in the movie “Office Space,” Three Olives, the British flavored vodka brand, wants customers to show their O-faces.
From now until May 31, visitors to the Web site for Three Olives, imported to the U.S. by Proximo Spirits, can upload user-generated content (UGC) in the form of photos of themselves experiencing the surprising taste varieties of Three Olives vodka, including Cherry, Grape, Pomegranate, Root Beer and Triple-Shot Espresso.
Entrants can then promote their entry using embeddable widgets and a Facebook app that lets them collect vot4es with8int their friend networks. The “O-Face’ Web site also implements Facebook Connect, which lets entrants who are Facebook members log in without leaving the “O-Face” site and broadcast to their friends what they’ve just done. Other features on the site let visitors see the current top-rated profiles and view the geo distribution of entries around the U.S.
Visitors can click to an online gallery to view all the submissions—about 1,330 at press time in a campaign that launched on March 9—and vote a thumbs-up or thumbs-down. In early June, a panel of judges will factor in that popular ballot as they choose five finalists to fly to New York for a photo shoot.
The Three Olives judges will then choose the results of that shot to select a grand-prize winner. That player will receive a $10,000 award and a spot in the company’s national ad campaign.
In march the spirits maker launched a $15 million U.S. ad campaign, its largest to date, with print ads in magazines such as Maxim, out and Cosmopolitan and support in out-of-home advertising and online ads on such Web destinations as Facebook and Perezhilton.com.
“our new campaign was driven by research that produced two key findings,” Proximo marketing vice president Elwyn Gladstone said in a release. “First, consumers felt the fun had been taken out of vodka with virtually all brands scrambling for the same crowded ‘luxury’ positioning. Second, the Three-O flavor range has become the benchmark among flavored vodkas.”
New York-based agency Agent16 designed the campaign and the print creative, while Special Ops Media took over Web Site development, online creative media planning and digital strategy.
In addition to the new ad campaign and “O-Face” promotion, Three Olives has commissioned new packaging from Stranger & Stranger of London that offers a Martini-shaped “window” on the label.
Three Olives sold more than one million cases of product in 2008, the company says.
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