News

Blue Barracuda creates ‘Cocktail Genius’ for T.G.I. Friday’s

04-06-2010

New microsite to encourage visitors to find their perfect cocktail

 London 6 May, 2010… T.G.I. Friday’s is promoting its cocktail expertise and heritage online.  Using creative designed by independent digital agency, Blue Barracuda, the ‘Cocktail Genius’ initiative uses a microsite to demonstrate T.G.I. Friday’s passion for mixed drinks and dispel the confusion behind ordering a good cocktail.  The campaign uses interactive video to enhance the brand’s personality and encourage visitors to experiment with different flavours and styles of cocktail.  Launched in 1965 in New York, T.G.I. Friday’s famously invented the Long Island Iced Tea.

The new microsite features a cocktail dream river allowing visitors to choose flash icons relating to their favourite spirit, flavour or mood.  These icons include a New York taxi for ‘New York cocktails’ or a palm tree for ‘beach cocktails’ and a selection of ingredients like fruit, coca-cola and ice cream which, when clicked, suggest a drink incorporating that ingredient.  This can be forwarded to a friend with an invitation to get together for cocktails. The agency also wrote, cast and directed a video of a bar tender encouraging visitors to find their perfect cocktail. The microsite will sit within www.T.G.I.Fridays.co.uk - the corporate website overhauled by Blue Barracuda last Summer - and will be promoted on the homepage.  It follows a viral video that showcased the skills and passion of T.G.I’s Prestwich crew practising flaring, stunts and flame-throwing after hours.
 
Darrell Wade, Commercial Director at T.G.I. Friday’s UK comments, “Our research suggests that people are sometimes nervous about ordering a cocktail as they are not quite sure what the ingredients are.  Mixing drinks is all part of the show at T.G.I. Friday’s so we asked Blue Barracuda to inject more excitement and education into that area of the website to encourage people to learn about cocktails.  T.G.I. Friday’s restaurants are all about having fun together and creating lasting memories and we want to use the internet to encourage this.”
 
Martin Talks, CEO of Blue Barracuda, adds, “As the acclaimed inventors of the Long island Iced Tea, the talents of T.G.I. Friday’s bartenders are a defensible heritage.  The cocktail genius campaign emphasises these skills and highlights the wide range of flavours and themes available in a mixed drink.  Visitors can interact with the ingredients, learn about mixology and choose a cocktail that reflects their personality, then invite a friend to join them at T.G.I. Friday’s for a fun night.  It will enable the internet to become an increasingly important part of T.G.I. Friday’s marketing mix.”
 
The redesign follows user research and website analysis by Blue Barracuda, which has been the retained digital agency for T.G.I. Friday’s in the UK for the past six years.  The agency, wrote, cast, directed and produced video for the microsite which is aimed at 25-30 year old drinkers.