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Category
Experiential Radio & Audio
Annual ID
OS25_RA027M
Background
Part cake, part booze, pure pleasure, Baileys is an iconic adult treating brand and one of the most loved spirits in the world. In its home nation of Ireland, no Christmas is complete without a Baileys treat.
But therein lies the problem.
Baileys is such a feature on the Christmas tables around Ireland, so synonymous with the holiday that consumers don't realize it is an indulgent treat all year round. As the season wanes, so does interest in Baileys. Bottles are left in the back of cupboards and consumers move on to other treats.
And the iconic black bottle, made especially like this to shelter the liquid from excess light, makes it hard for consumers to know how much Baileys is left for them to treat themselves with.
As Ireland comes out of winter and into spring, Baileys needed a reason to re-engage with its consumers and drive consumption again.
Baileys is an iconic Irish brand that is synonymous with Christmas.
But once the Christmas decorations have been packed away and the new year rolls into view, Baileys gets forgotten. It's put at the back of the cupboard as consumers move on to other treats. And the iconic black bottle makes it hard for consumers to understand just how much delicious Baileys they have left.
Our brief was to get adult drinkers who have forgotten how much they enjoy the delicious taste of a Baileys treat, to take their Baileys out of the cupboard and enjoy it on more adult treating occasions outside of Christmas.
But therein lies the problem.
Baileys is such a feature on the Christmas tables around Ireland, so synonymous with the holiday that consumers don't realize it is an indulgent treat all year round. As the season wanes, so does interest in Baileys. Bottles are left in the back of cupboards and consumers move on to other treats.
And the iconic black bottle, made especially like this to shelter the liquid from excess light, makes it hard for consumers to know how much Baileys is left for them to treat themselves with.
As Ireland comes out of winter and into spring, Baileys needed a reason to re-engage with its consumers and drive consumption again.
Baileys is an iconic Irish brand that is synonymous with Christmas.
But once the Christmas decorations have been packed away and the new year rolls into view, Baileys gets forgotten. It's put at the back of the cupboard as consumers move on to other treats. And the iconic black bottle makes it hard for consumers to understand just how much delicious Baileys they have left.
Our brief was to get adult drinkers who have forgotten how much they enjoy the delicious taste of a Baileys treat, to take their Baileys out of the cupboard and enjoy it on more adult treating occasions outside of Christmas.
Creative Idea
Baileys Sound Scales is a mobile experience that allows consumers to know how much is left in the dark thick glass bottle of Baileys. A physical+Digital brand interaction that unlocks product recipes and offers.
When a user lands on the Baileys Sound Scales experience on their phone, they are asked to select a bottle size (750ml or lit) and blow across the top of their bottle. The amount of liquid left is calculated by the pitch of the sound the bottle makes when blown.
If there is plenty of liquid left, they are served a delicious recipe to make at home with friends and family. If they've almost run out, they are offered a discount code to encourage repeat purchase.
When a user lands on the Baileys Sound Scales experience on their phone, they are asked to select a bottle size (750ml or lit) and blow across the top of their bottle. The amount of liquid left is calculated by the pitch of the sound the bottle makes when blown.
If there is plenty of liquid left, they are served a delicious recipe to make at home with friends and family. If they've almost run out, they are offered a discount code to encourage repeat purchase.
Insights & Strategy
Baileys speaks to all adults who are legally allowed to purchase alcohol.
Whilst usage of Baileys peaks at Christmas, encouraging consumption outside of the holidays is more difficult. Even with plenty of ways to indulge in Baileys all year round for dessert making. So most of the bottles are stored in shelves until the following Christmas.
To encourage people to reach into their cupboards and re-engage with Baileys, we knew we needed to take an innovative approach that played into a legitimate consumer barrier to using the product.
Social data showed that the iconic black bottle of Baileys had a downside; it can make understanding how much liquid you have left... quite tricky.
Our approach was to create a solution to this age-old question paired with recipes and offers, and an excuse for people to take their Baileys Bottles out of the cupboard.
Whilst usage of Baileys peaks at Christmas, encouraging consumption outside of the holidays is more difficult. Even with plenty of ways to indulge in Baileys all year round for dessert making. So most of the bottles are stored in shelves until the following Christmas.
To encourage people to reach into their cupboards and re-engage with Baileys, we knew we needed to take an innovative approach that played into a legitimate consumer barrier to using the product.
Social data showed that the iconic black bottle of Baileys had a downside; it can make understanding how much liquid you have left... quite tricky.
Our approach was to create a solution to this age-old question paired with recipes and offers, and an excuse for people to take their Baileys Bottles out of the cupboard.
Execution
Measuring the pitch of the sound wave generated by the user blowing over the top of the bottle, Sound Scales can measure the amount left in the bottle, accurate to 50ml of liquid (just over a shot of Baileys).
To bring it to life, we created a model data set of every frequency resonance of Baileys Bottles and we tuned our webapp to listen for those frequencies, after a lot of testing, we were able to figure out that we could reliably get down to 50ML of increments of volume, the smaller the volume of liquid, the larger the frequency.
To launch Sound Scales we created a PR and social media strategy that included content on facebook and instagram as well as influencer creator posts across instagram and tiktok.
To bring it to life, we created a model data set of every frequency resonance of Baileys Bottles and we tuned our webapp to listen for those frequencies, after a lot of testing, we were able to figure out that we could reliably get down to 50ML of increments of volume, the smaller the volume of liquid, the larger the frequency.
To launch Sound Scales we created a PR and social media strategy that included content on facebook and instagram as well as influencer creator posts across instagram and tiktok.
Results
Baileys Sound Scales helped the brand reach the highest peak of sales off-season, with a 24% increment vs same season prior year, experiencing the product in new consumption ocassions.
With a potential reach of 2MM (almost half of Ireland's total population) the brand saw a social positive sentiment of 93%
The average engagement time of soundscales was 54s, with 99% of users engaging all the way from blowing into the bottle to our recipe content.
With a potential reach of 2MM (almost half of Ireland's total population) the brand saw a social positive sentiment of 93%
The average engagement time of soundscales was 54s, with 99% of users engaging all the way from blowing into the bottle to our recipe content.
2025 Awards
Total Points: 3
Merit
Credits
Agency
VML UK / London
VML / New York
Media Agency
PHD / London
Associate Creative Director
Nika Mikhaylov
Chief Creative Officer
Manuel Borde
Ryan McManus
Director
Santiago Burin des Roziers
Executive Creative Director
Marco Bezerra
Global Chief Creative Officer
Debbi Vandeven
Motion Designer
Jonhatan Bolivar
Producer
Finn James
Maddie Ramsay
Digital Strategist
Iain Beal
Senior Art Director
Di Monks
Matthew Benney
Lindsay Weinberg
Senior Copywriter
Brendan Howell
Associate Director, Communications
Billi Hatfield
Associate Director, Technology
Jake Swiatek
Business Director
Matt Puddephat
Chief Commerce Officer
Debbie Ellison
Co-Chief Creative Officer, EMEA
Jaime Mandelbaum
Digital Brand Manager
Elisabeth Moloney
Digital Designer
Christian Martin
Director, Photography
Santiago Beraldo de Quiros
Director, Technology
Michael May
E-Commerce Manager
Mafer Alvarez
Global Chief Creative Officer, Innovation & Co-Chief Creative Officer, EMEA
Bas Korsten
Global Director of Creative Excellence
Jamie Anning
Global Director, Creative Commerce Operations
David Cofrancesco
Global Head of Digital & Data
Sarah Fleury
Global Marketing Director
Paul Carton
Global Marketing Manager
Alexa Wolff
Head of Innovation
Darren Burdock-Latter
Head of Spirits
Sorcha NiChleirigh
Marketing Director
Hilary Quinn
Marketing Manager, Spirits
Lorna Begley
Planning director
Ewa Nuckey
Planning Manager, Consumer & Shopper
Jamie Fulham
Project Manager
Gen Hill
Senior Account Director
Nicole Cheeseman
Senior Program Manager
Thomas Mercurio
Senior Project Manager
Marc Saban
Strategy Director, Digital & Social Commerce
Emmanuel Xirogiannis
Technology Specialist
Will Phillips
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