In these strange times, we’re all looking for the next thing to watch on our favourite streaming platform. Here at Hatch, we’ve got a recommendation very close to our hearts!
From the makers of the UK’s favourite New Zealand wine brand, “Vintage” follows Villa Maria’s dedicated viticulturalists and winemakers as they take the 2019 vintage from grape to bottle, documenting the incredible highs and heart-breaking lows of making world-class wine.
It is close to our hearts because we had the pleasure of organising its UK premiere, which took place earlier this year, on February 19th at London’s legendary May Fair Hotel.
We were tasked with hosting a premiere, with the aim of engaging key customers, trade and industry partners, consumers, wine enthusiasts and media to create awareness and excitement around the launch of Vintage, and in effect driving consumers to view the documentary on Amazon Prime once it launched.
The May Fair Hotel was chosen as the venue due to not only its legendary status but also because it’s home to London’s most impressive and largest private screening rooms, seating 200 guests!
With an event of this magnitude, we knew we had to do something special to get the press engaged. Therefore, media invitees received bespoke invites printed onto bottles of Villa Maria with a QR code directing them to a specially designed RSVP landing page.
To maximise awareness of the film coming soon to Amazon Prime, a press release was distributed resulting in an exclusive interview with the Daily Express for one of the protagonists, Stu Dudley.
What’s more, give the public a chance to attend the event, we set up five reader offers to win a ticket to attend the premiere were secured with Marie Claire, Country & Townhouse, The List, The Lady and The Resident. Our social team also got involved, creating a dedicated social media strategy, promoting teasers for the documentary and running competitions across channels.
When the night came, we were all very excited! We jumped on a train to London to meet our team down south and got to prepping. With two bars to set up, a red carpet to be laid, 200 goody bags to fill with specially designed press brochure, Villa Maria colouring books and branded pencils and USBs with all assets, we knew we had to get going!
With everything set-up (and a rota to get the team premiere-ready, of course), the guests started flooding in for the drinks reception, taking advantage of the 360° gif camera on the red carpet while Stu Dudley was finishing up his press interviews in a press suite upstairs, following a content gathering session for Villa Maria’s social channels.
Soon, it was time to usher the guests into the cinema and start the screening, followed by a Q&A with Stu led by UK wine expert, Jane Parkinson. The audience engaged with the discussion, wanting to find out more about the process and Stu’s role, generating engaging pieces of coverage post-event.
After a closing drinks reception, we took straight to breaking the bars down and ensuring everything is sent back to be safely stored until the next event – we can’t wait!
Oh, and the results? Over 160 guests in attendance (including over 50 journalists from titles such as The Spectator, Country & Townhouse, Stylist, Financial Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Sun and Press Association, Mail on Sunday), 139 social media posts with a 690,324-potential reach from guests and 25 pieces of coverage across consumer and trade titles with a potential reach of 43,593,450.
Have a watch of the video from the night and head over to Amazon Prime to see the film itself – perfect for the isolation wanderlust!
