Alex Yates
Creative Director
May Doan
Account Manager
Quynh Anh Pham
Producer
Background
Only a few people know about the vault of rare sake stashed underneath Hoan Kiem Lake–it’s worth a small fortune, and people come from around the world to indulge. This exceptional collection is housed in Akio Lounge, a cocktail bar hidden below ground in Hanoi’s French Quarter.
While it shares space in the House of Senses with Koki, a Japanese Hibana restaurant from Michelin-starred chef Junichi Yoshida, Akio Lounge has an identity all its own. Head bartender Sean Halse is the keeper of that flame, and it is under his direction that Akio Lounge is now poised to become one of the top bars in Hanoi. Halse has hand-sourced a collection of rare bottles that includes, for example, the awe-inspiring Hibiki 35 (with an eye-watering price tag to match). Other vintages can literally be found nowhere else on earth, available exclusively at Akio.
In 2022, Akio Lounge engaged Fourdozen for content creation and to lead a number of brand activations that would help bring this special place to the attention of those with the taste to enjoy it, both domestically in Vietnam, and internationally.
Our Big Idea
Fourdozen worked with Akio Lounge to develop a brand activation strategy founded on a series of high-profile guest bartender events that would generate media attention and capture the imaginations of our audience on social media. We created curated guest lists for each event, including media figures, KOLs and high-network individuals, and then worked directly with all participants to secure their attendance. In practical terms, this work took the shape not just of hundreds of emails, phone calls and personal meetings, but also content writing and press releases that saw wide uptake in the national media.
Among these activations were three concurrent nights with Hiroyasu Kayama, owner of Bar BenFiddich in Tokyo, a man widely recognized as the best bartender in Japan and among the best in the world. Hiro-san made his first-ever trip to Hanoi at Akio’s request, to mix a unique set of drinks for three nights in May. With support from Fourdozen, these events garnered interest from dozens of domestic press outlets and saw numerous KOLs from Hanoi’s foodie clamoring for attendance.
Results
When you have such a good story to tell, the only thing standing between you and results is simply doing the work. Fourdozen did the work, and we began to see results even before the events began. Multiple newspaper and magazine articles were published prior to Hiro-san’s arrival in Hanoi, and his private media showing was booked solid. During the two subsequent guest shifts, the Akio Lounge was full of additional reporters, KOLs and other high-network individuals. And even though the bar and social media properties were brand new, during those two evenings social media (including Instagram, TikTok and Facebook) came to life with activations, check-ins and user-generated content. The Akio story was broadcast to a local, interested audience of hundreds of thousands, and Akio Lounge cemented itself in their minds as the new place to be.
