Studio Messa, Wanderlust Union And OMD Combine For GREY GOOSE’s ‘Fountain Of Goose’

In the creation of their 2019 summer activation, GREY GOOSE brought together three leading agencies to bring to life a world-first experience for consumers, known as the ‘Fountain of Goose’. Brand experience agency Studio Messa took the lead role on the project, with Wanderlust Union delivering the PR and OMD handling the media buy and paid influencer aspect.

With all agencies far exceeding their targets, with over 19,000 samples of GREY GOOSE and an audience reach of over 24 million people being exposed to the activation, the Fountain of Goose is GREY GOOSE’s most successful consumer activation in the last decade.

Tasked with a brief to create a consumer experience that would appear in three locations, bring to life GREY GOOSE’s new ‘Live Victoriously’ platform, French heritage and host ‘out of the blue’ surprise and delight moments to encourage consumers to treat themselves, the three agencies worked together to consider every aspect of the activation to deliver something that had never been seen before.

Studio Messa nailed the brief with the creation of the Fountain of Goose, bringing the extravagance of European architecture to urban locations at the Fountain’s pop-ups in Broadbeach, Sydney and Melbourne. A bespoke, sculptural flowing bar with ornate marble detailing, the Fountain of Goose served complimentary GREY GOOSE Vodka, Lime and Sodas. The unique, world-first activation proved a hit with consumers, and with foot traffic of 455,000 bearing witness to the Fountain, Studio Messa exceeded their target of 15,000 samples, reaching an astonishing 19,250 samples, along with 1,400 scoops of a limited-edition GREY GOOSE x Gelato Messina Espresso Martini Gelato served in Melbourne alone over a 4-hour session.

“Developing the Fountain of Goose experience was an exciting challenge for our team. The experience was inspired by GREY GOOSE’s luxury French heritage, and by popping up in unexpected places with an unusual and visually arresting installation, we elevated what would otherwise be a regular, everyday moment,” said Studio Messa director Peter Pengly.

Designed to evoke memories of the lavish French Riviera and represent a taste of GREY GOOSE’s decadence, the 6m wide x 6m deep x 3.5m tall Fountain of Goose played host to a variety of surprising performances during its three appearances. From performances by GREY GOOSE ballerinas, vodka magic from America’s Got Talent semi-finalist, magician Dom Chambers, everyone’s favourite pick-me-up, a limited-edition GREY GOOSE Espresso Martini Gelato, and a wishing well for visitors to toss a GREY GOOSE coin into, the agencies considered the consumer experience from all angles.

PR agency Wanderlust Union were charged with reaching over 8 million eyeballs which they exceeded by 300 per cent. With the Fountain of Goose appearing in three states, Wanderlust Union targeted local, state, and national media, tripling the number of eyeballs to over 24 million and 86 pieces of coverage across print, online and broadcast.

“Engaging Gelato Messina to create a limited-edition GREY GOOSE Espresso Martini gelato and Dom Chambers, the first Australian to make the semi-finals of America’s Got Talent, created strategic PR elements that we knew would engage both press and consumers,” said Wanderlust Union director Sophie Baker.

Recognising that content is key, Wanderlust Union also engaged director Romy Frydman of Style Me Romy to create a lifestyle content piece celebrating summer to encourage consumers to Live Victoriously and visit the Fountain of Goose. With over 100,000 views across paid and unpaid platforms, the content piece is also featured on the GREY GOOSE page of Dan Murphy’s website.

“The content piece transports the viewer to vignettes of retro Riviera chic, showing a couple making the most of a beautiful summer day. The recurring GREY GOOSE ‘bottle and spin’ motif becomes a subtle compass for them to ‘Live Victoriously’, guiding them from one great location to the next. A throwback to the halcyon days of summer, it’s a stylish, evocative and fashionable twist on making most of every moment and shows the life you deserve, of which a little taste can be experienced through a sip of GREY GOOSE,” said Baker.

OMD, who handled the media buy and engaged influencers to visit the Fountain of Goose, were also responsible for taking the activation a step further, working with Snapchat to create a gamified world lens, the first in the alcohol category in Australia. In order to extend the reach of the Fountain of Goose beyond just those who attended the activation in person, OMD created a game for both the front and world-facing lens. Allowing users to pour their own cosmopolitan cocktail from the front lens, using the world-facing lens, users could place the Fountain in their real-world environment, and through a gamified lens compete in a challenge to toss coins into the Fountain within a 30-second timer – replicating the real Fountain’s wishing well.  With over 1.5 million Australians using the lens since its October launch, the game ended with users being able to enter a competition to win a GREY GOOSE summer prize pack.