Overview

Thinking Tree Spirits is a women-led distillery in Eugene, Ore. Our partnership began in July 2022 ahead of the World Athletic Championships in Eugene and continued through April 2023 for the launch of a new spirit and expanded shipping locations, with the aim to share the brand story at the national level.

Goals

• Secure stories about Thinking Tree’s events for World Athletic Championships to demonstrate the distillery’s community involvement

• Garner press for Thinking Tree’s new Butterfly Lavender Vodka

• Expand brand awareness beyond Eugene and reach statewide and national audiences

Results

PR & Product launch

With the world-famous World Athletic Championships held in Eugene in the summer of 2022, we first set out to share Thinking Tree’s events in honor of the occasion, including a pop-up dinner series co-hosted by Chef Michael Stember and a Steve Prefontaine look-alike contest held at the distillery. We secured coverage in local, statewide, and regional outlets and a Here is Oregon social media feature.

Later in the year, we focused attention on the release of Thinking Tree Spirits' new Butterfly Lavender Vodka as a way to demonstrate the team’s creativity and catapult them into a national spirits conversation. We secured stories about the distillery’s local ingredient sourcing, the vodka’s unique color-changing property, and its flavor profile in national lifestyle outlets, local outlets, and beverage trades. Major PR wins include being named “Vodka of the Year” by Wine & Spirits magazine, being chosen as a “25 Best Vodka Brands for 2023” by Vinepair, and being one of the “Best Flavored Vodkas to Try in 2023” by Mashed. These wins also led to attention from Food & Wine magazine, which featured a special vodka cocktail recipe from Thinking Tree’s bar manager.

Newsletter

As part of our work, I re-developed, managed, copywrote, and published Thinking Tree’s monthly email newsletter. In 8 months, we grew subscribers by 59.3%.

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"As a small growing brand, outsourced talent is critical, and having Allyson on retainer has been a valuable investment with exceeding returns. She's quickly become an invaluable part of our team's dynamic through her organized, methodical approach and impeccable communication. We saw triple-digit percentage engagement increases across multiple platforms from the successful PR and content strategies she provided us. The ease of working with Allyson combined with the results we've experienced has made it a pleasure to not only work with her but to also refer her to colleagues in my network." - Darcey Howard, former CMO @ Thinking Tree Spirits