Submitted by The Goat AgencyAgency IPI Score 57/100

Hour of the Kraken

Influencer Marketing

Goat North America launched Kraken's Gold Spiced Rum with a NYC event and creators telling #HouroftheKraken tales, reporting 4.6m+ impressions.

~1MEngagements
4.6M+Impressions
300KWebsite clicks
100%Positive brand sentiment

About the campaign

Kraken Rum, known for its dark spiced flavour, needed to build awareness and consideration for a new, lighter Gold Spiced range in North America and drive trial of it. The challenge was largely categorical rather than cultural: competitor analysis showed alcohol brands defaulting to cocktail recipe content and polished serve imagery, which left room for a brand built on intrigue, mystery and storytelling to differentiate by telling stories instead of showing recipes.

The Goat Agency, through Goat North America, ran Hour of the Kraken in two phases. A tentpole NYC event announced Gold Spiced Rum, with local influencers creating content in the lead-up and on the day, followed by a longer creative campaign built on a repeatable device: each creator struck gold in a custom wooden PR box, revealed the bottle as a treasure from the seas, and told their own #HouroftheKraken fable, ending with a toast to the Kraken. A mixed roster of micro and macro Kraken Mavericks, including TooTurntTony, Claire Allen, Molly Russo and Logan Isle, carried the campaign.

A distinctive brand persona differentiated the launch more sharply than category-default formats, and the shared PR box and #HouroftheKraken hashtag tied a mixed roster into one story. Specific platforms are not stated in the source. The agency reports 4.6M+ impressions, around 1M engagements, 300K website clicks and 100% positive brand sentiment. All results are self-reported and survive only as an archived snapshot, with the engagement figure cut off mid-word in the source and no independent verification available.

Case in 60 seconds

Kraken Rum, famous for its dark spiced flavor, needed to build awareness and consideration for its new, lighter Gold Spiced range in North America.

Competitor analysis showed alcohol brands defaulting to cocktail recipe content and aesthetic imagery, leaving room to differentiate through Kraken's brand of intrigue, mystery and storytelling.

Hour of the Kraken: each creator strikes gold in a custom wooden PR box, reveals the bottle as a treasure from the seas, and tells their own #HouroftheKraken fable, ending with a toast to the Kraken.

Two phases: a tentpole NYC event announcing Gold Spiced Rum with local influencers creating content, then a longer term creative campaign with a mixed roster of micro and macro Kraken Mavericks including TooTurntTony, Claire Allen, Molly Russo and Logan Isle.

The agency reports 4.6m+ impressions and a second figure of nearly 1m, which appears to be engagements but is cut off in the archived source. No independent verification is available.

Strategy Breakdown

The primary strategy-learning section — interpretation, not a press-release summary.

North American drinkers, reached through local influencers at the NYC launch and a mixed micro and macro creator roster. The source does not define the audience more precisely.
Based on the available evidence, the tension was categorical rather than cultural: alcohol content had converged on cocktail recipes and polished serve imagery, so a brand built on mystery had an opening to tell stories instead.
Launching a lighter Gold Spiced variant from a brand famous for dark spiced rum, in a category where launch content tends to look the same.
Kraken played its established mischievous, mythic persona, with the new bottle framed as a treasure from the seas rather than a recipe ingredient.
The agency bet that a memorable narrative experience, seeded through a physical PR box reveal, would drive awareness, consideration and trial more effectively than category-standard content.

Creative & Execution System

Assets & channels

  • Launch event content from local influencers
  • Creator story content revealing the Gold Spiced bottle from a custom wooden PR box
  • #HouroftheKraken hashtag
  • Platforms not stated in the source

Partners

  • Kraken Mavericks creator roster: TooTurntTony, Claire Allen, Molly Russo, Logan Isle, among others

Participation mechanic

  • Creators each told a unique #HouroftheKraken fable, rounded off with a toast to the Kraken

Creator role

  • Mix of micro and macro creators acting as storytellers for the new product

Results & Evidence

MetricValueResult typeConfidence
Impressions4.6m+ReachAgency reported
EngagementsNearly 1mEngagementAgency reported
Positive brand sentiment100%BrandAgency reported
Website clicks300KTrafficAgency reported

Why The Goat Agency's strategy worked

  1. 1

    A distinctive brand persona can differentiate a launch more sharply than category-default formats like cocktail recipe content.

  2. 2

    Pairing a concentrated launch event with a sustained creator phase extends a product launch beyond a single spike.

  3. 3

    A repeatable physical device, here a custom wooden PR box reveal, gives every creator the same narrative opening while leaving room for individual stories.

  4. 4

    A shared hashtag (#HouroftheKraken) ties a mixed micro and macro roster into one campaign story.

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