How Can Alcohol Brands Bolster Customer Loyalty? Look To This Australian Gin Experience

Australian alcohol brand Four Pillars Gin expanded its production facilities and created an experiential food and beverage location at its headquarters in Healesville, Victoria.

Key features

Australia’s largest gin-focused distillery, Four Pillars Gin, transformed its space to create an immersive experience in Healesville, Victoria. Breathe Architecture led the three-fold expansion, not only allowing the brand to expand its production with a new distillery but providing a multi-use immersive experience with an outdoor gin garden, retail area, bar and events space. Located in the Yarra Valley, the building is surrounded by the region’s mountains and temperate rainforest. The branded experience is meant to demonstrate the deep connection between the place itself and the brand’s product.

Copper, a material essential to the gin distilling process, is incorporated throughout with both functional and decorative purposes. Gin is piped directly into the main bar through copper pipes, saving approximately 29 tonnes of glass per year. Vaulted ceilings with exposed beams recall the industrial nature of the space, while natural materials like wood allude to the surrounding nature. Steel, concrete, timber and recycled masonry are the main materials in the palette. All waste from the construction process was recycled – none was directed to landfills. These initiatives, along with a solar panel-covered rooftop, make Four Pillars Gin Australia’s first carbon-neutral gin business.

Frame’s take

‘According to the 2019 KPMG retail report, 78 per cent of consumers prefer to spend on experiences as opposed to products, whilst 69 per cent said live events facilitate greater connections with both brand and community,’ we reported on why alcohol brands are looking beyond the bar to market their products. ‘For companies selling physical products like bottles of booze, this has brought about a shift in approach: if your customer prefers an experience to a product, then the logical solution is to make the purchasing of your product an experience in itself.’

Four Pillars Gin clearly emphasizes building relationships with and providing experiences for its customer base, in addition to expanding its output capabilities. In-person experiences not only provide an additional revenue stream but also help to create a significant relationship between visitors and the brand. The meaningful interaction and (hopefully) subsequent loyalty that the customers develop help the brand to stick out from the competition and solidify its presence.

Source: FRAME