One brand story for the wine and the ocean it protects

The Hidden Sea is a global wine brand with a mission: remove one billion plastic bottles from the ocean by 2030. After a 12-month decline in engagement and reach, they asked The Garden to rebuild brand presence across Australia, the UK and the US east coast, and turn attention into the revenue that funds the mission.

Client: The Hidden Sea
Industry: Beyond
Solutions: Creative & Content
Services: Content Marketing, Video Marketing, Social Media Marketing
Region: Australia

Increased reach on Meta, 90 days rolling

+171%

Increased engagement rate on Meta

+146%

Average growth of Meta followers

+169%

The challenge

The Hidden Sea had historically told its wine story and its ocean story separately, had a significant ambassador program with no system to harness it, and global events and activations needing visibility. A content audit, audience study and competitor analysis let us realign the content pillars with the mission before a single post went out.

Our solution

We merged two stories into one ethos: protect the oceans, support the clean-ups, sell delicious wine. Value-led, evidence-first content showed the mission being worked towards, saving the sales promo for in-store and paid channels. Emotionally led assets did the reaching: a 60-second reel of the owner swimming a funded collection site in Jakarta proved the formula, handheld UGC-feel footage with two-to-three-word captions per frame, and those learnings became the house style.

For the 1,000-plus unpaid ambassadors, we built the operating system the program lacked: a streamlined work order for global content, a monthly WIP with the PR agency and sales managers, and Meta’s collaboration tool putting key posts in both feeds, with sponsored clean-up events becoming the highest-performing content for every account involved.

The results

On 90-day rolling numbers, Meta reach rose 171%, engagement rate 146% and follower growth averaged 169%, a record month-on-month high for the brand and an engaged global audience that sees the mission, not just the merlot.

What our clients say

We started working with The Garden to get help creating engaging content for our socials. We couldn't have been happier with the quality of the strategy, content and the execution from the team. If you're looking for a team to help your content click, you've found them!