Engaging the Senses with Interactive Online Activations

Key Takeaways

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Epicurious and ReserveBar.com were able to build a successful multi-sensory experience online with the Interactive Cocktail Cabinet by:

1. Recognizing a Partnership Opportunity: Epicurious and ReserveBar.com saw an opportunity to work together and combine Epicurious’ database of recipes with ReserveBar’s e-commerce platform for spirits. While Epicurious built the Interactive Cocktail Cabinet, ReserveBar created a new e-commerce landing page hosted by both parties for purchasing spirits mentioned in the resulting recipes. This enables users to get acquainted with the benefits of both businesses while also gaining information about cocktail recipes. 
   

2. Building a Strong Touchpoint for their Consumers: In a collaboration to push a joint online spirit bar, Epicurious and Reservebar.com pulled inspiration from the placement of their product in the consumer’s home. Knowing their spirits can be used in conjunction with everyday ingredients featuring tastes that are easy to identify, they were able to build a platform that directly ties strong tastes together to make it more relatable for the consumer. 
   

3. Creating an Easy Way to Portray Concepts: The Cocktail Cabinet was designed in a user-friendly and responsive way that enabled a clear understanding of how the platform works without needing to engage with it first. Using sophisticated but bright drawings for the Cabinet, it is inviting and the platform design itself works as a promotional image. Many Tweets and articles that were shared about the Cabinet feature a screenshot of the tool as the main content.  
   

4. Using Unique Methods to Engage: As a perfect combination between Epicurious and ReserveBar.com’s business models, the Interactive Cocktail Cabinet is a perfect collaboration tool that provides clear value. As an innovative concept it received praise for its functionality and usefulness. When recipes are generated based on a users selections, the recipe pages are clear and sometimes link to the spirit product page creating a short and clean user experience. 

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Epicurious, a digital recipe platform, partnered with Reservebar.com, an online spirits retailer, to launch a cocktail experience on March 24, 2021 called the “The Interactive Cocktail Cabinet”.

1. Interactive Cabinet

During the launch in March 2021, interest in Epicurious on Google reached a new high. During launch week, the Cocktail Cabinet generated 9K visits to the platform.

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The platform provides a series of spirits and ingredients that users may be interested in making a drink with. 

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As the user selects ingredients, corresponding recipes filter in below.

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Elements of taste and identifiable ingredients are a large part of this activation. They are portrayed through references inserted across the website’s copy.

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The recipe landing page links the product which redirects to a product landing page for viewers to purchase. 

2. Organic Social

On March 26, 2021, Epicurious launched the marketing campaign for the Cocktail Cabinet through organic platforms such as email and social media.

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Epicurious didn’t post on Twitter for launch day but tended to post more frequently about the Cocktail Cabinet from April-May, receiving 25+ tweets from supporters.

3. Press & Publicity

The Cocktail Cabinet picked up traction in the editorial world and has been featured in over nine articles. The articles generated over 300 shares on social media.

The Cocktail Cabinet was also featured on Product Hunt, a platform highlighting new products, where moderators offered positive reviews. 

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Epicurious’ Interactive Cocktail Cabinet is so effective because it’s:

Relatable. Instead of trying to describe how a spirit or cocktail tastes, the Cocktail Cabinet uses basic everyday ingredients that users can easily relate to while they’re building their ideal drink. By creating a responsive network that tells users what ingredients taste good with different spirits or in different combinations, it brings more familiarity to making purchase decisions.

Useful. Many users that follow Epicurious who were aware of the launch were intrigued by the general concept they had created. Based on the comments on the launch posts, Epicurious was filling a need their direct audience not only wanted but could use easily. One user even suggested they make it into an app.

Innovative. Word about the Cocktail Cabinet spread quickly because not only was it useful, but innovative in its functionality and design. By building a unique platform, Epicurious was able to spread its message completely organically with no ad spend behind the launch. Publications and interested viewers took to sharing the platform out of fascination and interest.