Campaign intro here: downloadable and approved for embedding: https://app.box.com/s/o9li4dnlh15c7x1opg8w1szd2bfqa5rh

As he explains in an introductory Youtube clip, he doesn't want to hire a 'poncey advertising agency' that'll cost loads of money and thus make the gin more expensive. Instead, James is appealing to James Gin drinkers all over the world to help create a “Gin of the People” social campaign.

The winning ads will be posted on James Gin's instagram and the recently launched James May's Planet Gin Youtube channel with its 50k followers. This highly engaged audience were recently invited to 'Roast James Gin.'

Submitted as either a short piece of filmed content or a banner ad, the idea can feature any of the variations in the James Gin range, (Asian Parsnip, American Mustard, London Drizzle and Navy Strength Asian Parsnip), and must of course convince all and sundry that James Gin is the only thing worth drinking this summer. The creators of the top 10 ads will receive a mystery James Gin Gift Box, and the overall favourite will receive an extra personalised gift from James May himself.

In the campaign clip launched on Youtube, James says,

“I need your help. The James Gin business is now at the point where people are trying to persuade me to spend loads of money with a poncey advertising agency to promote my products. But I don't want to do that, because James Gin is the Gin of the People and I'd rather save the money so I can make it cheaper to buy.

This is where you, who are The People, step in. I want you to make the ads for me.

Your ad can feature any of the flavours currently available from James Gin, and can be a simple banner or a video. But if it's a video, it can't be longer than 60 seconds. Upload your works of genius using this form (www.linktr.ee/jamesgin), and once it's been checked for hate speech, cultural misappropriation, and incorrect pronouns, it will appear all over the James Gin socials.

The creators of my 10 favourite ads will each receive a mystery James Gin gift box. And my absolute favouritest favourite ad will also win a personal gift from me.

Put on your designer bow tie, your ludicrously fashionable glasses, change your name to just your initials, and get on with it.”

James Gin is currently available in 41 countries worldwide, with sales in the US currently outstripping those in the UK because they don't have any decent alternatives.

Terms and Conditions and Entry form can be found here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScreoVhTmVMi7h5rJmmZOiSClLa-N1ylkzX-hfTB8SM-Qnjjg/viewform 

***ENDS***

For more information please contact joanne@joannebaird.com | 07814 267 444 

About James Gin by James May 

“I became the co-owner of The Royal Oak Swallowcliffe, Wiltshire in 2020 and to be honest, it just all started as a bit of fun to create a gin for the customers. We weren't thinking about 'launching a brand' at all at that stage and we have no real understanding of the market. We never really expected it to be a commercial success, but I really wanted to learn about gin distilling. In fact I wanted to try myself with a still in my garden shed but HMRC said if I did that I'd go to prison.  So I was introduced to Hugh Anderson - of Downtown Distillery - as he was based nearby, and it transpires he was quite the Willy Wonka when it came to creating gin, so he was very much into working with me to create something unique. We initially made 1000 litres of our first product - Asian Parsnip - and it sold out instantly, so we knew we were, somewhat accidentally, onto something. After 3 years, we're now selling our four flavours online globally. Our biggest market is currently the US but we're also expanding in Europe and Australia.  While it's true that in the UK gin sales have declined from their peak a few years ago (when basically everyone had their own gin brand) we believe there's still huge growth potential in the US - particularly for UK produced premium gin that's genuinely unique. This year we want to spread the word further by moving into more conventional retail sales in the UK, US and Australia. It'll be interesting to see how we get on.”