HYKE Gin – Sustained Excitement

Later this month (March 2019), the new HYKE Gin from our longstanding client Foxhole Spirits will hit the shelves of Britain’s biggest supermarket, bringing with it a unique brand story entirely in tune with the times.

Back in 2016, we worked with Sussex-based start-up Foxhole Spirits to launch its eponymous new gin brand. Its USP was that this would be the first English gin made using grape spirit derived from the (usually discarded) waste grapes left behind by the wine-making process. The gin itself proved an enormous commercial and critical success, and our brand scooped a Silver IWSC award. The only remaining question was: how do we follow that? The answer comes this month when, after months of behind-the-scenes work in absolute secrecy, Foxhole Spirits’ new HYKE Gin makes its triumphant debut.

An elegant solution

From its inception, the HYKE brand set out to continue, and explicitly build upon, the sustainability message of its predecessor. Like Foxhole Gin, HYKE is made using grapes that would otherwise be discarded: the difference is these are table grapes (the ones you eat) rather than wine grapes. Every year, Britain’s supermarkets import boatloads of them from as far as afield as Egypt, South Africa and Chile. Inevitably, by the time it reaches the UK, some of the fruit doesn’t meet the exacting visual standards expected by consumers; so every year, hundreds of tonnes end up being composted or anaerobically digested. By putting these grapes to productive use, HYKE is making a small but important contribution to tackling an industrial-scale waste problem few consumers are even aware of.

Creating the buzz…

That unique backstory reached the receptive ears of buyers at Tesco, which has led the way in publicising and addressing the issue of food waste. In fact, the brand resonated so powerfully with Britain’s biggest supermarket that it agreed to list HYKE even before it had tasted it. And to reinforce the sustainability message, HYKE will appear on Tesco’s shelves later this month following its official launch on 18th March 2019 – the second annual Global Recycling Day. Ahead of the launch, we worked with Foxhole Spirits’ Head of Marketing & Communications, Donna Amato, to create a range of PR assets, generating significant coverage across the trade and national mainstream media.

…and capturing the spirit

Photography is a major element of the HYKE brand story. Although it’s a sustainable product, it’s not an overtly ‘green’ one – and we certainly wanted to avoid coming across as ‘worthy’. At the same time, we needed to differentiate HYKE from the plethora of small-batch, on-trend gins in what’s already a pretty crowded market. We therefore opted for bespoke lifestyle images, shot within a residential property in East London that combined our ground-breaking label design with an authentic family-home feel. Working with renowned specialist drinks photographer Rob Lawson, we first created composition mood boards and then art-directed the entire shoot ensuring the images captured the brand essence, as well as being technically perfect. Following the shoot, a bespoke colour filter was applied to all images which captures the brand colour palette. This attention to detail helped ensure all photography is ‘owned by the brand’ and provides distinctive imagery for the marketing / advertising collateral.

“It looks absolutely incredible, and is going to stand out in consumers minds as something that looks and feels totally different to anything else on the shelf. The talent at Warren Creative have been the driving force behind this, their expertise, knowledge and total understanding of our brand and vision is the reason this has all come together in such a beautiful package. Thank you.”

James Oag-Cooper
MD, Foxhole Spirits

The brand story was featured on BBC South East news on 13th March 2019.

To read more about our work for HYKE Gin, please click here to read our Work page.