Perfect Chemistry for Winning PR
Award-winning PR turned gin entrepreneur, Laura Bruce spent two decades in public relations in Canada, the UK, and Ireland prior to launching Chemistry Gin with her wife Dr Marie van Drimmelen.
Awards season is on fire with the NZ Spirits Awards open for entries, many international competition entries open and judging underway for the IWSC. San Francisco winners are currently being announced too. Not to mention recently announced The Drammys winners, with The Rumbles and The Junipers coming up quickly.
Following up and broadening our deep dive for paid subscribers with Ben Leggett of Elemental Distillers, we also invited PR specialist Laura Bruce from Chemistry Gin to share her unique perspective.
To date, Chemistry Gin has won a gold medal from the 2023 Women’s Wine and Spirit Awards, scored 92 out of 100 for a silver from the IWSC 2023, and recently won Gold at the 2024 World Gin Awards. Hand-crafted in small batches, Chemistry Gin is juniper-forward with a botanical recipe that includes Sichuan peppercorns, sage and seaweed. It’s fresh and sophisticated. The international recognition is helpful in building brand confidence, positioning for retail and creating newsworthy stories to continue bringing attention to the brand in many different forms of media.
Every aspect of Chemistry Gin has been developed with intentionality, including the PR and awards strategy - which is why we chose to feature them as a small case study on how a new gin brand launching can leverage awards to help build a brand. Plus, Laura’s extensive PR background means we were delighted to offer her the microphone to tell their story.
In Laura’s words:
“When I started in PR my mentor the late Lou Cahill APR advised me that before you consider doing any publicity, you better make sure your product can bear scrutiny! Marie and I knew immediately that we had something special with Chemistry, and sent I think bottle number 3 off to our first competition. We won a gold medal straight out of the gate, and that gave us a real boost in our first few months, approaching retailers and also speaking to consumers. We won silver the following March at IWSC, so that was two great results in less than six months!
“The third-party validation that a top award from a prestigious spirits competition provides is great fuel for your brand. Having just won gold at the World Gin Awards – our first time entering – has reinforced both for us but more importantly for our customers that we’ve got a very high-quality product. The value of the endorsement a prestigious medal represents can’t be underestimated.”
“Choosing the appropriate awards is important. We’ve only entered three of the majors, and fortunately have come away with a medal each time. Once the entry fee and freight for your samples are paid, the cost of entering one of these big competitions can exceed $1000, so economics alone may dictate that you are selective about where to enter. You also want to enter competitions where a win carries some weight.”
“In terms of feedback, the tasting notes you receive from these competitions can be a great asset – helping consumers decide if your gin might be their kind of gin. It’s also useful in terms of material for retailers and for your website.”
“Once you win, that’s when the real expenses kick in! A neck label from the World Gin Awards or a bottle sticker from the IWSC – the minimum order will set you back more than $1000. But as someone who has always looked out for stickers when shopping for wine, I believe it’s a good investment. That reminds me, I need to place our order for the ‘neck scarves’ from the World Gin Awards!”
Back to the Editor: Some key aspects to highlight from the Chemistry Gin story, if you’re considering an awards strategy for your own brand or wondering how this might apply to your business:
Leveraging international awards with influence early on can be a real advantage in your retailing strategy, particularly if you are not yet working with a distributor. While the credential alone isn’t going to be enough to get a listing, it’s a worthwhile shelf boost for your product and can create a talking point early on
Understanding the implicit costs in both entering and badging up your bottles should be part of your marketing budget from the get-go. Choosing those key awards really does make a difference, so do the research first
Understanding how to translate tasting notes and judges’ feedback into POS (point of sale) consumer marketing is a gold nugget of strategy here. Again - making your product easier to sell for retailers and consumers.
It’s worth mentioning you shouldn’t limit your awards strategy only to the taste test! Chemistry Gin have won awards for their gorgeous label design too, in partnership with the design team they worked with. This is another angle that is uniquely PR-worthy, alongside continuing to tell great stories about their bottle choices - 100% post-consumer recycled - as well as their commitment to supporting women in STEM.