Another star-studded month for marketing saw Avatar actor Zoe Saldana front the Campari Red Diaries 2018, while Absolut vodka teamed up with singer Rita Ora to launch The Open Mic Project.

Last month Our/Vodka debuted an eight-part documentary that took viewers on a journey behind the New York-based distillery, while Laphroaig unveiled a series of five online videos as part of its #OpinionsWelcome campaign.

Patrón tapped into the latest craze of augmented reality with the launch of its new Patrón Experience app, and Jägermeister recruited Primal Scream bassist Simone Marie Butler for its latest Halloween campaign.

Click through to the following pages to discover our pick of the top 10 spirits marketing campaigns launched in October 2017.

Laphroaig

Islay single malt Scotch brand Laphroaig has unveiled a series of five ‘unscripted’ online videos as part of its #OpinionsWelcome campaign, called A First for Friends. The campaign celebrates friendship and a “memorable first in life”.

The campaign videos features “banter between old friends with starkly differing opinions”. Five real-life pairs of friends try Laphroaig for the first time and “share their 100% unscripted, authentic, honest opinions” of the whisky.

Judith Giegerich, international marketing manager, malts, for Beam Suntory, said: “Our new campaign showcases genuine friends trying Laphroaig for the first time and proves that ’we don’t make friends easily but when we do they are for life.”

Campari

Campari has recruited Guardians of the Galaxy actor Zoe Saldana to star in a short film for the Campari Red Diaries 2018, which celebrates the talent of bartenders around the world. The story takes viewers on the “pursuit of the perfect cocktail” in Milan.

Saldana joins a list of leading actors who have previously fronted Campari’s iconic calendar series including Clive Owen, Kate Hudson, Eva Green and Uma Thurman.

Tullamore Dew

Irish whiskey brand Tullamore Dew has partnered with ancestry experts MyHeritage DNA to create branded DNA testing kits as it launches its latest global campaign, The Beauty of Blend.

Tullamore Dew worked with MyHeritage DNA to review trends from around the globe, and discovered that 99.7% of people have a blend of multiple ethnicities – while just 0.3% of individuals sampled were of just one ethnic background.

The William Grant & Sons-owned brand is giving people the opportunity to test their DNA with the kits, which will be distributed via a gifting programme and through its social channels. As a triple blend of pot still, malt and grain Irish whiskey, Tullamore Dew is aiming to “champion the transformative power of blend” with the initiative.

The Beauty of Blend campaign launches on the brand’s YouTube channel.

Crown Royal

Diageo has hired actor and comedian JB Smoove to front Crown Royal’s new campaign, created to help boost the Canadian whisky brand’s flavoured portfolio.

The new campaign, called Crown Royal Regal Apple: The Musical, features a series of short films and an original song, titled It’s Apple Time, Baby.

In collaboration with director Greg Brunkalla, Anomaly New York and Storefront Music, the online videos features Smoove in a nightclub with friends enjoying Crown Royal Regal Apple shots while taking part in a dance number.

The marketing plan consists of TV, social media, PR and bar events.

Absolut

Absolut vodka has teamed up with singer Rita Ora to launch The Open Mic Project By Absolut, which aims to use music “as an instigator for change”.

The project promotes “more acceptance” through a song that will be created using real stories from fans. Rita Ora and Absolut intend to use the platform for “amplifying, and uniting, voices across the nation to refresh the talk”.

People will be able to submit their stories of acceptance and inclusivity to TheOpenMicProject.com until 1 December.

Ora will debut the song at January’s Grammy Awards.

“From sharing my own story to spotlighting others, we’re bringing the issue of acceptance to a global stage and changing today’s chat to be more inclusive,” she said.

Hennessy

Cognac house Hennessy has teamed up with recording studio Abbey Road for a campaign that aims to “blend artists and genres together”, called Masters of Potential.

The partnership will see Hennessy UK and a panel of music industry heads team up to give artists the time and space to record “rare live-to-vinyl tracks” at the studio as part of a new programme.

Music industry insiders involved in the project include music journalist Hattie Collins, Island Records’ Alex Boateng, music influencer Ralph Hardy and Abbey Road Studios’ Christian Wright.

Kojey Radical and JP Cooper were the first artists in the scheme and recorded two tracks – Party and She’s On My Mind.

Our/Vodka

Our/Vodka has launched a new eight-episode documentary that takes viewers on a journey behind the New York-based distillery.

The documentary follows Dave Ortiz, the Our/Vodka NY partner, as he meets local partners in Berlin, Amsterdam, London, Detroit, Los Angeles, Houston, Miami and New York.

The viewers will also learn the story of how Pernod Ricard decided to fund an intrepreneurial idea that became the Our/Vodka family. “Every city and distillery partner has its own story and personality. The only thing that binds them together is the vodka and the family, but that is also what makes the brand so unique,” says Kalle Soderquist, co-founder and creative director of Our/Vodka.

The documentary series is available now on YouTube.

Jägermeister

Jägermeister has recruited Primal Scream bassist Simone Marie Butler to star in a new Halloween campaign, called Things Aren’t Always As They Seem.

The campaign features “eerie” animations, videos and soundtracks and features images reminiscent of “classic horror stories and the forests of Saxony”.

The four characters from the videos, known as ‘The Cursed Four’, will also feature on bespoke Halloween 2cl miniatures of Jägermeister. Jägermeister notes that its rate of sales increased by 34% during last year’s Halloween period.

Nicole Goodwin, Mast-Jägermeister UK marketing director, said: “For 2017 we’ve moved beyond zombies to a campaign that’s intriguing, mind-bending, suggestive and distinctly German with an edge.”

Patrón

Tequila house Patrón has unveiled a new augmented reality (AR) app that transports iPhone users to the Patrón distillery in Jalisco, Mexico.

Patrón is one of the first brands to make full use of this advancement in AR technology through Apple’s iOS 11 update and the A11 Bionic Neural engine.

The Patrón Experience provides a portal to the distillery where consumers can learn about the ageing process of ultra-premium Tequila.

Label 5

La Martiniquaise-owned blended Scotch whisky brand Label 5 has launched a new global marketing campaign that celebrates ‘group power’, called The Power of 5.

The launch marks the first time that Label 5 has created a marketing campaign specifically for the international market, outside of France.

Unveiled at the TFWA World Exhibition & Conference in October, the campaign will run digitally and through print marketing. The Power of 5 is described as an evolution of Label 5’s City Lights campaign.

“The goal was to go deeper into the campaign,” said Nadège Perrot, international senior brand manager for Label 5. “Label 5 brings together a worldwide community around its new claim, The Power of 5, where we celebrate togetherness in a real and spontaneous way.”