Word-of-mouth marketing (WOM) agency Social Soup has picked up an award thanks to its successful launch of ABSOLUT’s new super-premium vodka, ELYX.

The agency picked up the award in the “leveraging influencer” category at global wine and spirits importer Pernod Ricard’s competition for marketing best practices across the Asia-Pacific region.

Social Soup carried out an influence and WOM campaign, designed to show the difference in taste between ELYX and other standard and premium vodkas with influencers.

To spark interest and to create conversations, both online and offline, the campaign targeted a consumer segment identified as “farm punks”, a demographic driven by quality, craftsmanship and simplicity.

Larger scale blind tastings were also held for 700 farm punk influencers in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. 

Sharyn Smith (pictured), CEO and founder of Social Soup, said the ABSOLUT ELYX launch was a fantastic example of the power held by influential consumers.

"We selected influencers who would have a genuine interest in a new premium vodka product, and would therefore help generate organic conversation quickly and effectively," she said.

“Influencers have a greater reach than the average person as they operate within much larger social networks," she added. "They generate twice as many branded conversations, 65% of which carry an active recommendation to try or consider the product or brand.”