TORONTO, March 4, 2019 /CNW/ - The Hill Street Beverage
Company (TSXV: BEER) ("Hill Street" or the "Company")
challenged Canadians to go alcohol-free for the month of January,
and in doing so demonstrated its ability to leverage effective
marketing to achieve its business objectives.
The "Hill Street Challenge" represented the Company's first
fully-integrated marketing campaign, and capitalized on a growing
trend to go "dry" for the month of January. It was designed to
build awareness of the Hill Street brand amongst Canadians, help
people understand the benefits of going alcohol-free, and
ultimately drive consideration of the company's alcohol-free
products.
"We created the Hill Street Challenge as a way to highlight some
benefits of going alcohol-free, but decided to do that in a
slightly outrageous way so people would sit-up and take notice"
said David Pullara, Chief Marketing
Officer at Hill Street, referring to the irreverent videos created
as part of the campaign. "We've been working hard over the past
year to get people to understand that giving up alcohol doesn't
mean giving up drinking or even having a good time, and the
outstanding results of this campaign demonstrate our efforts are
having an impact."
The Hill Street Challenge was supported using a number of
creative elements; video ads, digital and performance marketing
assets, and radio partnerships with Zoomer Media, Humble & Fred
Radio, and WhatSheSaid Talk Radio were all used to drive awareness
of the Challenge.
The Hill Street Challenge also involved a contest component
where people were asked to use social media to help one of Hill
Street's not-for-profit medical research partners -- either
Arthritis Society or Prostate Cancer Canada -- earn a $10,000 donation, resulting in over 800 social
media posts. At the end of the campaign, Prostate Cancer Canada
earned the $10,000 donation, but a
$2,500 donation was also awarded to
Arthritis Society for their efforts. Prostate Cancer Canada
President and CEO Peter Coleridge
was quick to praise the initiative. "We're thrilled to win the Hill
Street Challenge," he said. "The initiative raised awareness for
two important diseases affecting Canadians – prostate cancer and
arthritis. Hill Street Beverage Company is an incredible partner
and the gift resulting from our challenge win will allow us to
continue to help Canadian families facing this disease through
research, support services and education tools."
The Hill Street Challenge generated over 6 million impressions
across social media, and over 2.1 million people viewed the video
content. The click-through rate from the videos to the Hill Street
Challenge landing page was 1.45%, almost seven times the North
American average of 0.21%.1 This drove an
8,400% increase in web traffic versus the 30-days prior to the
campaign's launch, with the majority of traffic coming from
first-time visitors.
Hill Street's marketing is designed to build the Hill Street
brand in advance of October, when cannabis-edibles are expected to
become legal in Canada. The
Company plans to introduce its cannabis-infused beverages under the
Hill Street name, leveraging awareness of its alcohol-free adult
beverages. A survey conducted in early February of 1,582 Canadians
indicated a 300% increase in awareness of "Hill Street" amongst
adults, and a 450% increase amongst millennials, over the past
eight months.
About Hill Street Beverage Company Inc. (TSXV:
BEER)
Hill Street Beverage Company is the world's most
award-winning company exclusively focused on alcohol-free beer,
wine, and adult format beverages. Hill Street's great-tasting
products include Hill Street Craft Brewed Lager, Designated Draft
alcohol-free beer, Vin(Zero) wines, and Vintense wines, and have
won numerous medals and accolades including three Gold, two Silver,
and two Bronze Medals at the U.S. Open Beer Championships, the
Retail Council of Canada's Grand
Prix award, and a prestigious Double Gold Medal at the San
Francisco International Wine Challenge. Hill Street will also
produce and sell cannabis-infused adult beverages as soon as the
sale of cannabis edibles becomes legal in Canada, expected to occur by October 17, 2019. Hill Street has licensed a
patented infusion technology from Lexaria Bioscience (CSE:LXX) that
allows cannabis to be infused into a beverage such that it mimics
the onset and duration effects of alcohol with minimal impact on
the taste, smell, or shelf-stability of the product. Check out Hill
Street's award-winning line-up and order product to be delivered
straight to your home at www.hillstreetbeverages.com.
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Source: "Video Ad
Performance Metrics, North America", Extreme Reach, October 2018,
via eMarketer.com
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SOURCE Hill Street Beverage Co.