The Global Social Media "Ginspiracy"
My uncle Chris has been drinking gin and tonic for the last 30 years with his wife Helen. In the last few years however, he’s found that ordering a simple gin and tonic isn’t really an option anymore. He has to specify to the bar staff that he doesn’t want some new flavoured gin, he’s not interested in cucumber or a grapefruit garnish and “for the love of jaysus dont put it in one of those giant fish bowls”. Sadly for Chris, the drink he has grown to love has been forever changed by a younger generation moving in. It appears that Chris has been the first victim of a phenomenon that I’m going to call “Gintrification”.
In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last 3 years and didn’t notice, gin is in. It’s absolutely everywhere, from Christmas tree “gin baubles” to gin flavoured tea. The popularity of the “Boomerang” feature on Instagram would have no doubt worn off by now if it wasn’t for giant gin bowls being clinked each weekend. The Irish Spirits association released a study earlier this year detailing that gin sales had increased by 44% in 2017 alone! With recent wider studies revealing a worldwide boom in the spirit, it’s clear that this isn’t just impacting the Irish market.
Some people would dismiss this as just a trend like any other. Like an alcoholic version of those black “Vans” shoes with the white stripes that appear to be compulsory among the youth of today… Or maybe it’s just a shift in the drinks market towards lighter spirits or new exciting novelty products and experiences around gin. There’s even a place in Dublin that now serves you your gin cocktail in a miniature bathtub complete with a rubber duck! (Jesus wept). Fish bowls, flower pots, bathtubs and other novelties aside, it’s clear that there’s more to the gin rush than anything thats come before.
Ever asked someone who loves gin how long they’ve been drinking it for? Many won’t have even heard of gin before 2015 and if they had, they’d of dismissed it as an old woman’s drink (sorry mam). The reason everyone loves it so much is because they’ve been caught up in what I believe to be a social media conspiracy - a “Ginspiracy”. When it comes to strictly building a buzz of awareness around a product or brand, I believe social media is the best way to do it. Gin producers and related companies have managed to harness the power of social media to create a sort of gin fever that has most of us hooked.
Gin producers use the perfect mix of influencer marketing, sponsored content with huge online publishers and novelty viral recipe/product videos to put gin front and centre of our newsfeeds. This content usually get a massive amount of engagement (likes, comments, shares) and once you engage with these kind of videos, you’ll only be shown more by the platforms algorithms. People see their friends commenting on gin related posts or sharing their own gin pictures and FOMO will push them to at least try the drink. Repeat these steps day in day out and suddenly Christmas trees around the world have a new kind of bauble!
In my current job, I manage the Facebook and Twitter pages for multiple brands related to themes such as home, travel, gadgets etc. The audiences of these would vary the ages of 20-40 and so to test out just how effective gin content is on social, I began sharing some of the viral gin videos on our own pages. For example, I shared a video about a “gin spa” in Scotland to our travel page and within seconds the likes and comments were flooding in - “Ah @Paul there’s me Christmas present sorted wink wink haha :P” you get the idea.
I do realise that it would be foolish of me to present you with these theories while not allowing some of the more informed people in the drinks industry to comment on the phenomenon. When I did contact some experts however, I was met by a deafening wall of silence. A growing Irish gin brand and an "Irish gin expert" didn’t reply to my questions about the phenomenon. It seems that the Illuminati, or "ginuminati" don't take too kindly to outsiders with questions.
When will it all stop though I hear you ask? Like most crazes, I think gin will retreat back into the darker corners of bars at some stage in the future. I also suspect we’re on the cusp of a new age - The Aperol Sprits era. The pink drink had appeared on a lot of peoples social feeds this past summer and I believe it could have the potential to "shake up" the drinks industry again. For now however, gin will continue to win.
If you’re looking to make sense of social for your own brand or business, then give me a shout. You can also follow me on Instagram and Facebook where I promise I’ll keep the conspiracies to a minimum. Think I’m completely wrong about gin? Comment below 5 reasons why you love the taste of it that don’t include “cos it’s lovely”.