Don’t Sleep on GIPHY

While brands wring their hands weighing the risk-reward prospects of joining potentially problematic platforms like TikTok, they may be overlooking a quiet giant that’s delivering equally impressive viewership without all the security concerns.

For Lexington, Kentucky-based agency CORNETT, GIPHY is getting the kind of results for clients that simply aren’t attainable with any other service. By taking existing video files and converting them into shareable GIFs, Facebook-owned GIPHY affords a cheap and easy way to extend the reach of brand assets during this time of crunched budgets and limited resources. And GIPHY’s integration with the most popular social media apps, as well as text and email, all but assures that any expenditure will be ROI positive.

Noting an absence of spirits industry competition on the platform, CORNETT created a GIPHY channel for Buffalo Trace Bourbon in 2017. Their first upload, a bourbon pour cinemagraph initially created for an OOH display, has now been viewed more than 18 million times across the internet.

A GIF view, according to GIPHY, is counted every time a GIF has been served through GIPHY’s services or technology. A single view is counted when a GIF is served, regardless of how many times it loops.

In the years that followed, CORNETT honed Buffalo Trace’s GIPHY presence, creating branded stickers targeted to underserved search terms like 'whiskey', 'bourbon' and 'cheers'. It’s a strategy that helped the brand, with minimal investment, effectively hijack events like National Bourbon Heritage Month in September. During that time, Buffalo Trace’s distinct branding was viewed up to 800,000 times a day. And total views now amount to 48 million.

“It’s a great way to organically join a conversation and a great community management tool,” said CORNETT’s Allen Marler, senior digital engagement manager.

CORNETT is currently at work growing the GIPHY presence of other spirits brands on their roster such as Eagle Rare Bourbon, and similar work for Lexington tourism boosters VisitLEX is approaching 20 million views in its first year.