Jack Daniel would have been 160 years old in September and to celebrate the occasion, the brand created a multichannel promotion to make his birthday a national holiday. 

The ?Back Jack? program started with a Facebook petition application that served as the campaign headquarters and welcomed more than 161,000 new Facebook fans globally. The Facebook petition captured more than 15,000 supporter signatures, and fans could also use their phone or send a text message to sign the petition to make his birthday a national holiday.

?The strategy was to create a digital grassroots movement to honor Mr. Jack?s 160th birthday by making it a national holiday,? said Charles Black, account supervisor at Slingshot, Dallas. ?Users could sign the petition to make Mr. Jack Daniel?s birthday a national holiday via SMS text. 

?Also, much of the POS leveraged a JagTag QR code that when accessed, returned a video about the campaign to make Mr. Jack?s birthday a national holiday,? he said.

The Jack Daniel Distillery is the oldest registered distillery in the United States and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Slingshot is a full-service advertising and marketing agency with particular expertise developing integrated communications programs.

The campaign garnered 11,580,208 digital impressions, converting fans of Jack Daniel?s whiskey to campaign supporters and delegates. 

Integrated effort
A whopping 2,027 consumers signed the petition via SMS.

The Facebook application provided a competitive atmosphere where fans could see and share the campaign video, download recipes, earn badges by encouraging their friends to sign the petition, RSVP to the virtual national rally, participate in polls and view a map of state-by-state campaign support. 

To explain why people should Back Jack, Slingshot developed a video which was delivered to the fan?s phone via a JagTag QR code that appeared on point-of-sale items such as cups, posters, table tents, banners and temporary tattoos. 1,431 consumers scanned the code.

To also drive traffic to the online petition, the agency used a robust online media campaign that included standard Flash, rich media and high impact units on Slate.com, Facebook and AppSavy. 

The page takeover on Slate.com had a 20 percent click-through rate.

The Back Jack campaign is the first time Jack Daniel?s has used social media as the hub for a fully integrated program. 

This is not Jack Daniel?s first foray into mobile. The brand also has an SMS program which it uses to keep opted-in consumers aware of Jack Daniel?s happenings.

?The JagTag QR code was essential to this effort to explain the why behind Back Jack,? Mr. Black said. ?Because of the finite space of POS, the QR code and the video it returned, was able to tell the story of Mr. Jack?s birthday in a fun an engaging way.

?The SMS allowed consumers to instantly show their support and to Back Jack," he said.

Final take
This is the video that consumers were linked to from the JagTag