Crown Royal and ID Society offer Crown Royal fans a chance to help.

NYC, September 20, 2005 - With so many affected by the devastation in the Gulf Coast, Crown Royal, part of the Diageo of North America, Inc. portfolio, quickly responded by creating their own fund-raising program, Crown Royal Relief, and ID Society was there to provide online development support.

From now until September 29, 2005, Crown Royal will auction a one-of-a-kind 2004 Chip Collins Custom Crown Royal Chopper motorcycle, with proceeds going towards Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. To participate, fans are encouraged to go to www.crownroyal.com/relief to sign up for a reminder email.

The Crown Royal team approached ID Society to set up a new relief page on the Crown Royal web site and IDS responded immediately. Other agencies, including the Shaw Marketing Group and Sharp Left joined ID Society in donating a portion of their services to this project.

The bike offered has been on display all season long at the Crown Royal Fan Experiential tent that travels to most racetracks during the 2005 NASCAR season. Designed and built by Chip Collins, an up-and-coming bike builder, the bike has already won numerous awards including Easy Riders Best of Show (Houston 2004) and V-Twin 2nd Place at the East Riders Invitational (Atlanta 2004). Chip is very pleased that his art is now going to a worthy cause.

ClickZ News
By Kevin Newcomb
September 7, 2005

Diageo has launched a new Web site to let fans of Tanqueray spend more time with the brand and its spokes-character, "Tony Sinclair."

Sinclair is a fictional "socialite extraordinaire" created by Grey Worldwide NYC for Tanqueray parent Diageo’s ad efforts. He has appeared in TV ads with the aim of helping Tanqueray appeal to a younger, more urban demographic. Now he’ll be featured in "Tony’s World," a new section of the brand’s Web site created by interactive agency ID Society.

"The site gives fans of the brand a chance to get closer to Tony Sinclair, to aspire to his lifestyle," Jon Winsell, director of strategic solutions at ID Society, told ClickZ News. "Underneath all that, it promotes brand awareness and engagement with the consumer."

ID Society was responsible for the strategy, creative, and Web site creation for the initiative. The agency also created, along with Grey, an interactive drink mixer where visitors can can create, name and save their own Tanqueray drinks. Winsell said the objective was to highlight the many ways that Tanqueray can be used as a mixer, as well as add a viral element by forwarding their recipes to friends.

As with work the agency has done for Diageo’s other brands — including Crown Royal, Johnny Walker, Ciroc and Bullet — the Web site is used as a hub for a marketing plan that includes print and TV ads, which are handled by Grey. An online sweepstakes offers users the chance to win a trip to London.

"Diageo firmly embraces utilizing the Web as a component of their marketing. It’s a way to draw people closer to the brand," Winsell said. The company also does some e-commerce activities, selling merchandise for various brands, he added.

Diageo has plans for a broader Web marketing campaign leading users to the Web site, though Winsell was not able to share details. "We’ve got some fun things in store," he said.

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