BRANDEE DUDENHOEFEr
CONTENT DESIGNER | SILLY GOOSE
Turning eight cocktails into a global story worth following
How I helped turn Patrón’s global cocktail competition into a connected digital experience that inspired 4M+ votes.
ROLE
Copywriter
SCOPE
Content strategy · UX writing · Editorial · Social
CHANNELS
Web · Editorial · Social · Campaign
IMPACT
4M+ online votes
8 global contenders
8 cities
The challenge
A vote only matters if people care about the choices
Patrón’s Margarita of the Year brought together eight bartenders from around the world, each with a cocktail inspired by their city, culture, and point of view.
But asking people to vote meant first giving them a reason to choose. We needed to make eight very different contenders memorable while connecting them through one competition—and sustain that interest over two months of voting.
The challenge wasn’t simply getting people to vote. It was giving them a reason to care who won.
More than a vote
Eight distinct stories
Each contender brought a different bartender, city, ingredients, and inspiration.
The experience needed to make each memorable while connecting all eight through one campaign story.
A competition with momentum
Voting unfolded over two months rather than a single campaign moment.
Content needed to build interest at launch, sustain attention as standings changed, and give audiences reasons to return.
A connected experience
The campaign stretched across web, editorial, social, and voting.
Each touchpoint needed to stand on its own while moving audiences naturally between discovery, storytelling, and participation.
Eight drinks created the competition. Their stories gave people a reason to choose.
Our approach
Turn social attention into active participation
We built Margarita of the Year as a social-first competition, using content to introduce the contenders, give audiences reasons to pick a favorite, and keep them invested as voting unfolded.
The campaign experience, editorial, and social worked together to turn awareness into exploration—and exploration into millions of votes.
01 — DISCOVER
Bring the competition to the audience
Social was the primary entry point into Margarita of the Year, introducing the eight contenders through highly visual, recognizable campaign content built for discovery and sharing.
We used each bartender, cocktail, and story as a new reason to enter the competition—bringing Margarita of the Year into audiences’ feeds rather than relying on them to seek it out.
02 — EXPLORE
Give interest somewhere to go
Social drove audiences into a web and mobile campaign experiences designed to help them understand the competition, explore the eight contenders, and decide which margarita deserved their vote.
I led content across the digital experience, shaping messaging, contender stories, calls to action, and supporting editorial that connected each drink to the bartender, city, and inspiration behind it.
03 — EXPERIENCE
Taste the competition
The experience didn't have to end with a vote. Through a partnership with Cocktail Courier, audiences could order cocktail kits and make Margarita of the Year drinks themselves.
We extended the campaign through social and seasonal moments like Cinco de Mayo, turning digital interest into a physical experience and giving the winning cocktail a life beyond the competition.
Impact
4M+
online votes
8
global contenders
2 months
of audience participation
5+
ways to participate
