350 guests came to LDR LONDON’s Jamaican joust for Appleton Estate rum on one of the summer’s hottest nights yet.

The host venue was Floridita in Soho where the Monday night crowd cheered the country’s 3 top bartenders Joshua Ivanovic (Milk & Honey), Nick Reed (The Raconteur) and Stuart Hudson (Viajente) fighting for a trip to Jamaica and Appleton Estate’s Best Bartender title.

LDR LONDON produced the trade-turned- consumer event featuring tropical plants and giant AV screens of lapping shores, brought in Pete Letanka jazz trio and good vibrations from DJ Mikey and served up Appleton Estate skinny mules and Jamaican jerk chicken and spicy soups from Cottons.
LDR LONDON creative consultancy, brand experience, digital communications, evaluation

Urban Junkies: Appleton Estate Bartender’s Challenge 2010

As part of the launch of the new Arch London hotel LDR LONDON came up with a creative to tease the world’s media. It was a simple creative but it did the trick.

We commissioned the illustrator of The Week magazine covers to caricature the 3 party leaders for The Arch London teas. We then came up with a brief for the Pastry Chef on what to put inside the sweat and savoury éclairs, according to the leader’s characters. And so the election éclairs were born.
The tactical creative secured 10 valuable articles for the Arch Hotel in 3 weeks across their target media including CNN international, ES Magazine and The Times blog.

LDR LONDON creative consultancy, media relations, digital communications, evaluation

The Times Blog: Election Éclairs

Single Home, owners of a €350m hotel and property development in southern Spain, have appointed LDR LONDON to manage a strategic international media relations campaign for their leisure and real estate destination, Finca Cortesin.

‘We have chosen LDR LONDON for their international capability and their strength in destination marketing’ said Vicente Rubio, General Director, Finca Cortesin. LDR LONDON provides the client with a multilingual team.

LDR LONDON strategic consultancy, media relations, evaluation

The Financial Times: Great Luxury Hotel Deals

After 4 months creative consultancy and planning we launched the capital’s latest townhouse hotel, The Arch London, to a fanfare of attention.

This week's launch night triggered great reviews and The Evening Standard hailed the hotel for pioneering a new national trend in arty éclairs. Meanwhile, senior editors from the likes of Metro, The Daily Telegraph, Stylist, Grazia, Cosmopolitan, Vogue and Harpers Bazaar were scouting the suites and gorging on gravalax and martinis in the Martini Library and the HUNter486 bar and restaurant. As usual they were having too much fun and we had to kick them out in the end!

LDR LONDON brand consultancy, media relations + event management

The Evening Standard: Join the éclair set at The Arch London

In 4 weeks we took another tight brief and delivered a winner Burns Night for Monkey Shoulder Whisky in Paramount at the top of London’s Centrepoint. We catered for 400 but thanks to some cunning PR we had more than 2,000 RSVPs.

So as the snow flakes glided from the heavens past the spectacular panoramic windows some 40 floors up young urbanites hogged the Haggis Wrapped in Pancetta and Deep Fried Monkey and polished off Monkey Shoulder Whisky cocktails in a jiffy, jiving to The Red Hot Chilli Pipers and Scottish DJ Tokyoblu.

LDR LONDON event management + media relations

Urban Junkies: Burn baby burn

The Sunday Times Magazine ran a 5 page cover story this month featuring LDR LONDON’s alpine property client, Swisch, in January with a spectacular double page spread of company owner, Simon Jackson.


LDR LONDON hooked the story on the back of the introduction of the new UK government new super tax starting 6 April 2010. Within 5 days of its publication the article generated more than £13m of sales leads from high net worth’s looking for alpine air away from the tax man. The Times property section subsequently published a second follow up story on Swisch. Sales enquiries continue to come in.

LDR LONDON tactical media relations

The Sunday Times Magazine: Bonus super tax sends the City’s super rich to Switzerland

J Wray and Nephew have appointed LDR LONDON to tell UK consumers about bartender’s favourite rum, Appleton Estate from Jamaica. The team won the account after a three way pitch on the strength of its drinks trade and consumer experience and the strength and originality of its experiential and digital ideas. The campaign kicks off summer 2010.

LDR LONDON brand consultancy, strategic partnership + media relations

Appleton Estate: Brand website

LDR LONDON's extraordinary brand experience for Hendrick's Gin, The Horseless Carriage of Curiosities, pulled into its final 'station', London Manchester Square (behin Selfridges), this week after sampling more than 20,000 UK consumers with their idiosyncratic shenanigans.

The met police cautioned 4 of the Hendrick's mono cycling dandies in their flat caps and petty coats for causing a stir outside Selfridges wielding their cucumbers and roses.

Senior editors from The Daily Telegraph Magazine, The Evening Standard, Wired Esquire and Sainsbury's Magazine joined Carriage host, David Piper, for a curious candle lit dinner on board the carriage with out jelly monger friends, Bompass and Parr.

The Hendrick’s Horseless Carriage of Curiosities concept was developed and delivered by LDR LONDON with Hendrick’s Gin and delighted the 4 corners of the country from Edinburgh to Goodwood.

LDR LONDON brand consultancy, strategic partnerships, brand experience + media relations

Esquire: Top five pop up bars

After 12 months of planning and production, LDR LONDON launched Monkey Shoulder Whisky's coveted Tree House Whisky Bar at The Big Chill this month on a blazing summer weekend. It was a massive hit!

Towering over the entire festival on The Enchanted Garden hillside and blessed with pink sunsets, the Tree House Bar drew the best looking crowd who ventured up the slope for Chill Out DJ sets from Cicada and live acoustic sets from Flamenco funk guitarists, Fran and Josh.

Chimpettes served over 3,000 whisky cocktails to discerning festival goers, including 30 press pals from The Sunday Times, The Sun, Esquire, The London Paper, Ryan Air and Pop Bitch.

The Monkey Shoulder Tree House was one of the key brand experience creatives for which William Grant & Sons, owners fo Monkey Shoulder Whisky, selected LDR LONDON as their PR agency a year ago.

Head of global brand communications, David Hume, said at the time: "Both Monkey Shoulder and Hendirck's Gin (also managed by LDR LONDON as lead creative agency) are enormously charismatic and innovative brands and PR has played a key role in their successes. We want to build on this sucess through creative and unusual PR that will stand out from the crowd."

LDR LONDON also took the Monkey Shoulder Tree House to the London Truman Brewery in Shoreditch (10th - 13th Sept 2009).

LDR LONDON brand consultancy, media relations + brand experience

Harper's Bazaar: Hot List

LDR LONDON launched the Hendrick's Horseless Carriage of Curiosities in Edinburgh in June and took the brand experience to Manchester earlier this summer.

The mad carriage is a crazy collection of oddities, a scientist's laboratory and am eccentric dining room all rolled into one and housed within a restored rail carriage from 1890.

Since it set off, thousands of British eccentrics have parted with a curiosity in return for a Hendrick's and tonic and a carraiage tour with it's host and agitator of the absurd, David Piper.

In the evenings, the carriage converted into a dining room, where we brought in media hungry jelly mongers, Bompas and Parr, to serve a banquet to press guests throughout the British isles.

The Carriages launches in London (1st - 4th Oct).

LDR LONDON brand consultancy, strategic partnership, brand experience + media relations

Mr & Mrs Smith: A deliciously curious experience

LDR LONDON were voted one of four Outstanding Small Consultancy Award finalists at the CIPR (Chartered Institute of Public Relations) Excellence Awards 2009.

LDR LONDON was selected on the basis of its creative work since it was established in 2005, focusing on its specialisation in the drinks and leisure sectors.

A detailed communications case study, evaluation and analysis, was submitted on LDR LONDON's pro bono charity work for The Galapagos Conservation Trust in 2008, as well as case studies on current work for the Hendrick's Horseless Carriage of Curiosities and the Monkey Shoulder Tree House.

Past and present campaigns also included in the submission were LDR LONDON's 42 Below Vodka LIFT OFF campaign for Bacardi, 2008 re launch of the Wine Show for Consumer Events, Metro media campaign for Wines of Argentina, and creative direction and international media campaign for the launch of Coco Club in Switzerland.

Charted Institue of Public Relations (CIPR): Website

LDR LONDON has been appointed to the committee for brand new charity campaign London For London, which launches in August 09.

The new charity will invite Londoners to contribute to a better and happier city. Backed by the Mayor, Boris Johnson, the initiative aims to engage the whole of London to raise funds and awreness to address some of the capital's most pressing problems, including youth violence.

On 3rd October 2009, London For London will call upon the capital's bars, clubs and pubs to invite customer donations of £1 to raise funds to help support organisations such as London: Kids Company and the Volunteer Police Cadets.

LDR LONDON media relations consultancy

View London: London for London events

Alcoholic Architecture opened in Soho giving gin lovers the chance to walk in a cloud of breathable cocktail. Made from Hendrick's Scottish gin the breathable mist used the same technology as Anthony Gormely's Blind Light at The Hayward Gallery.

This tactical brand iniative sparked extensive international print and digital media coverage for Hendrick's Gin, including 3 broadcast pieces on CNN, ITV Lunchtime News and BBC London News.

The strategic alliance between Hendrick's + Bompas & Parr was established + promoted by LDR LONDON.

WIRED: Londoners clamour to inhale G&Ts

Marcus Wareing caused a stir at LDR LONDON's Monkey Shoulder Alternative MBA by saying of his former business partner, Gordon Ramsay, "the public aren't idiots, they know you cannot be in 10 places at once and I will never pretend to be."

The story was picked up by The Daily Telegraph at a packed Maddox bar and club for the first in the series of the Monkey Shoulder Alternative MBA's with Esquire magazine.

100 wannabe entrepreneurs came to learn from the kitchen genius, and former business partner of Gordon Ramsay, from his eponymous Michelin starred restaurant at The Berkley Hotel.

The next two talks this summer will be given by founding partner of BMB advertising & design agency, and the creative genius behind the FCUK, Wonderbra and Virgin Galactic campaigns, Trevor Beattie, and maverick innovator, Will King, who has taken on the big guns with his razor sharp, King OF Shaves product range.

Monkey Shoulder's Alternative MBA was created by LDR LONDON.

Esquire: More monkey business

Metro newspaper hailed LDR LONDON's one day Wines of Argentina campaign as a major success following 10,787 entries with a record of 46% opt ins to the Wines of Argentina database. This was more than 300% more than a major airline promotion which ran for 5 days the week before.

Using the 2009 vendimia (harvest) as a consumer hook, LDR LONDON partnered with Branding Latin America to build an integrated communications and sales promotion campaign to boost awareness of Argentine wines in the UK and drive sales.

LDR LONDON developed a £12k competition prize for a trip of a lifetime to Argentina and Mendoza, secured a DPS (double page spread) on Argentine wine and food, and recruited Oddbins and Gaucho restaurants as the retail partners.

LDR LONDON designed the 2009 integrated Wines of Argetina promotion.

LDR LONDON launches world-class Spanish ham 5J at Harrods LDR LONDON hosted an international launch at Harrods on 17 February 2009 for gourmet’s favourite 5J Iberico Spanish Ham. The event attracted 240 high profile guests including Spain’s leading full fighter, Francisco, top model Laura Ponte and flamenco chill out band from Madrid.

LDR LONDON brand consultancy, event production + management, media relations

Metro: 5J Iberico Ham House cuts the fat

AA Publishing has appointed LDR LONDON to launch their new look world travel guides and online travel store www.aatravelshop.com. The media campaign is designed to build awareness of the AA Publishing business amongst a target audience of 33-55 year old British travellers and holidaymakers and drive traffic to their online travel store.

AA Publishing is one of the biggest UK travel publishers and produces in excess of 10 million publications each year including, atlases, maps, car accessories and lifestyle, accommodation and restaurant guides.

“This is a significant win for LDR LONDON and clearly demonstrates the growing confidence of big brands in small creative agencies,” say Louis de Rohan, Founder of LDR LONDON

The Daily Telegraph: Clover Stroud's travel books

 

PR Week (Nov 08) hails LDR LONDON’s cunning 42 BELOW Vodka Lift Off campaign A SUCCESS with over 250 online registrations in just 24 hours thanks to some crafty creativity and intelligent consumer targeting for the maverick New Zealand vodka brand.

Ever since it was launched with it’s cheeky viral (see digital section), the campaign has had Mac dummy’s, music maverick’s, ad agency egos, crazy creatives and antipodeans across the capital chomping at the bit and bidding for the 42 BELOW cosmic bar in their office Lift with the brand’s very distinctive style of in-house entertainment.

PR Week: Campaigns

LDR LONDON introduced some fresh blood to the 2009 Monkey Shoulder Appreciation Society with an inspirational talk by extreme alpinist, Kenton Cool at The East Room in Shoreditch.

120 urban adventurers and Monkey Shoulder fans came to watch Cool who challenged memebers of the audience to don a full arctic sleeping bag in an Alpine tent perched on a ridge of 6,000m peak.

LDR LONDON created, managed and promoted the Monkey Shoulder event series.

Founder of LDR LONDON, Louis de Rohan, was invited back to his photojournalism and news reporting roots this summer. He was commissioned by Tatler, Travel Editor, Melinda Stevens to write about Tarifa, his favourite summer destination.

The mission: 36 hours to pack a bag, get on a plane, take a camera and note pad, infiltrate the local communities and get under the skin of one of Europe's most laid back hot spots and file copy on touch down for the magazines October 08 edition.

Tatler: Breezy Living



 

LDR LONDON was overwhelmed with over 200 enquiries in a day from the UK's leading creative agencies to host it's mad 42 BELOW Lift Off bar.

The consumer activity targeted creative nuts and was lancuhed to 365,000 through a cunning media partnership, a tailored chimpanzee digital viral (see digital section), spoof design collateral and POS.

The 6 parties were supported by the nutty vodka professor, well endowed hosts Shelly and Prestige, a cosmic 42 BELOW bar and sampled over 8,000 guests.

LDR LONDON's creative has since been taken to international markets.

LDR LONDON lead creative agency, created, managed and promoted 42 BELOW Lift Off.

"Best campaign for Wine Show" PR Week

Chairman of Consumer Exhibitions Ltd, Tim Etchells, wrote to a PR agency for the first time in his 30 year career to congratulate PR agency LDR LONDON on their direct contribution to supporting sales at Wine Show 2007.

"I am truly impressed," he said following an intense 3 month print and digital PR campaign and creative consultancy securing over 100 media hits and rocketing pre-sales by over 400% on the previous year.

The campaign contributed to an increase in young urbanite visitors.

LDR LONDON has managed Wine Show PR for 2 years.

LDR LONDON's Save The Galapagos campaign was awarded Campaign of The Week by The Guardian this month.

The charity's first ever press campaign raised awareness of conservation issues threatening the biodiversity, ecological integrity and future survival of the Ecuadorian World Heritage site. Shark finning, invasive species and mass tourism were all given exposure across media channels including Newsnight, Reuters, The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, The Daily Mail, New Scientist. Last week The Guardian ran a cover story on the arrival of a giant cruise ship in the Galapagos.

The Christmas gift media campaign fundraised over £15k through on-line registrations in just one week from over 500 new charity supporters.

The Guardian: Rats, insects, litter: Delights of mass tourism reach Galapagos

LDR LONDON completed a 6 month press campaign last month to build awareness amongst the British public about the plight of the Borneo Orangutans. Extinction of the world's most intelligent animal due to deforestation for palm oil plantations is predicted at 5 years.

The press campaign used the BBCs Orangutan Diary documentary, which attracted a record 3m viewers during prime time tv, to leverage exposure through digital and traditional media channels - Daily Mail, Newsround, Channel 5 News, Reuters, The Times, The Observer etc.

The campaign assisted fundraising by WSPA and BOS raising more than £350k in 4 weeks. Supported by the press campaign the BBC1 documentary reached over 4.3m making the audience share 19% more than for The Apprentice that week.

The Independent on Sunday: 10 years to live: Orang-utan faces extinction in the wild


 

Red Bull UK’s Managing Director, Nigel Trood, dubbed LDR LONDON “consumer brand experts” following a one and half year campaign to launch and promote their Thai Wine Spritzer through a focused media relations campaign. This was the first alcohol brand launch for Red Bull UK Ltd since the company started marketing drinks more than a decade ago.

LDR LONDON media relations campaign

The Sunday Times Business: Rather than larger, try rose madam

LDR LONDON organised the first ever Cocktail World Cup regional final for UK & Ireland at Taste of London in June. The Vodka Professor was flown in from New Zealand to adjudicate as top bartenders from the best style bars & restaurants battled it out for a place at the Cocktail World Cup in New Zealand's white knuckle capital, Queenstown, this September.

LDR LONDON brand consultancy, media relations + brand experiences

The Daily Telegraph: Kiwi's vodka freeze

Louis de Rohan worked as Creative Director on the launch of Coco Club, the brand new alpine member's club for 6 months building the membership scheme, which generated £47k in revenue in 3 months.

Vanity Fair dubbed [Founder and Creative Director of LDR LONDON] Louis de Rohan, "the man to schoomze" following the launch.

The interantaional media campaign spread like wildfire thanks to a host of tactically placed features including helicopter transfers, Vogue styled Coco snow birds and the CHF 5,000 ice carved Krug chalet which ran as a full cover story in Switzerland's national newspaper, Le Matin.

Members of the club include James Blunt, Richard Branson and Natalie Imbruglia. The club was also ranked as one of Vanity Fair's top 10 clubs in the world.

LDR LONDON lead creative agency, marketing and international PR campaign management