Madame F WineInstagram Case Study

The strategic challenge

Madame F was already an established brand, evolving under the Laithwaites’ umbrella, but wanted to boost its social media presence.

The brand had an active Instagram account, however they were struggling to pin down a distinct visual identity. They also wanted to connect with their target audience – UK wine lovers aged 18-45 who are members of the LGBTQIA+ community or allies – through relevant social content.

After discussing the Madame F brand’s requirements with their in-house team, we suggested a combined paid and organic approach. This would enable us to expand the reach of their social media accounts while strengthening brand awareness and growing their online community.

We planned to overhaul Madame F’s visual branding by regularly sharing fresh, bespoke content. We focused on showcasing the product within the context of the LGBTQIA+ community and refining the tone of voice featured in the social posts to keep it consistent with their revamped website.

Our approach

We wanted to put Madame F in front of their target online audience and highlight the brand’s USP, showcasing the brand as wine that looks good, tastes good, and does good.

Madame F already had a visual style incorporating block colours and the iconic Susy the Frog (created by queer artist Justin Kemp), but we knew it could be more unabashed and confident.

Thanks to the brand’s focus on supporting a tight-knit, proudly visual community, we focused our attention on Instragram, a platform that combines creativity and community.

We worked with Darrin Jenkins, a local professional photographer with expertise in food and drink photography, to create a bespoke, brand-centric asset library of high-quality, bespoke still photography, stop-motion animation and video. These assets expanded Madame F’s colour palette and showcased the brand’s modern, rebellious attitude about the world of wine.

Our approach for Madame F’s organic social media involved planning regular content and actively engaging with followers as well as other relevant accounts. We also created relevant content such as personality quizzes to encourage more engagement. We also shared insights into Madame F’s world, featuring behind-the-scenes looks at photoshoots and highlights from their fabulous Pride party in Soho.

The paid approach involved two simultaneous strategies – collaborating with influencers and sponsored posts.

We identified Instagram content creators across a variety of niches (activism, food and drink, queer lifestyle, wine lovers, fashion) who would be able to tie Madame F wines seamlessly into their content. These influencers were split between paid and gifted, depending on the ROI they could generate. We also identified a number of key individuals we built relationships with over the course of the campaign to invite to the Madame F Pride party to secure further content and boost brand awareness.

Sponsored posts predominantly involved hosting competitions that were boosted on Instagram to reach as many people as possible across the country. This was done using eye-catching graphics and offering prizes that would appeal to a wide range of people.

The result

The Madame F social media project was an immensely rewarding undertaking.

We worked with a total of 21 influencers with a combined total reach of over 3.06 million, and built long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationships with them. They produced over 40 pieces of integrated content, showcasing both the Madame F wines and Queer Britain.

Our social team steadily increased the brand’s Instagram follower count from around 1,600 to over 4,500 – an 181% increase. The engagement rate followed suit, rising from 3.05% to 6.8%.

As a result of the combined effort of organic and paid social tactics, Madame F’s page reach skyrocketed from 135,000 to 1.19 million.