• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, October 29, 2013

The "Dram & Discover" events are curated and implemented by experiential event marketing firm Grow Marketing, working with select national and local "lifestyle partners." 

Each by-invitation, exclusive event (generally fewer than 75 attendees) is an interactive experience focused on one of The Glenlivet's four lifestyle positioning "pillars": travel, style, food and technology. Each event also offers attendees the opportunity to taste drams of The Glenlivet's higher marques (18-year-old and sometimes 21-year-old).

Those invited are the most active members of The Glenlivet Guardians loyalty program, plus "target-right" consumers chosen from each event partner's network.

Launched in September 2012, the Dram & Discover events will continue through June 2014, and span 11 markets: New York City, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Boston, Miami, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

This fall's events lineup has included a Chicago architectural cruise, with partner Wendella Boat Tours; a men's grooming experience (including barber services and skincare consultations) in Philadelphia, with the Duke Barber Co.; and evening style events in Houston and Dallas with Hamilton Bespoke shirtmakers and Q Custom Clothier, respectively. 

Food events in the series have included experiences such as farm-to-grill culinary demos and bean-to-bar chocolate and scotch pairings. 

Expert Glenlivet brand ambassadors act as mentors during the events.

The Glenlivet and Grow Marketing estimate that by its completion next June, the Dram & Discover series will have attracted some 3,375 consumer participants, with some 10,125 drams served.   

In addition to public relations/outreach to local and national media, starting this past June, for the Pernod Ricard USA brand's new fiscal year, social media amplification strategies are underway. 

By next June, 24 recap photo albums will have been posted on The Glenlivet's Facebook page, and 51 recap photo albums will have been posted on event partners' respective social media channels, blogs and/or Web sites.

The brand ambassadors will be posting and tweeting from their brand handles, and issues of The Cask by The Glenlivet, the brand's custom-content iPad app (free for those who are members of the Guardian program) will feature a series of articles and photos from the Dram & Discover events.

At its conclusion, the event series' results will be assessed based on guest RSVPs and registrations, new consumer sign-ups for the Guardian program, social impressions and consumer feedback. 

The brand expects to realize millions of online impressions via the social initiatives. "We're seeing amazing social amplification from these small events," driven by the consumer guests, as well by the brand and event partners, says Gabrey Means, co-founder and creative director of Grow Marketing, which became The Glenlivets events AOR about two years ago.

The Dram & Discover events complement The Glenlivet's existing, ongoing "Nights of Passage" private tasting events series in markets around the country, launched more than three years ago. Those are geared to providing Guardians and invited guests with a deeper understanding of the nuances of single malt scotch and the brand's marques.