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Alex Wilder

Inception Group WINS ‘Best Social Media Presence of the Year’ in the Class Bar Awards 2020!

By Cahoots, Inception Group, News

Having won for Mr Fogg’s in 2018, we were extremely excited to have not one, but TWO of our brands shortlisted again for the ‘Best Social Media Presence of the Year’ award in the Class Bar Awards 2020. Both Mr Fogg’s and Cahoots had made the final three for their outstanding social media.

Waiting eagerly to hear the results, the team was overjoyed when Cahoots’ name was called!

See why Class Bar chose Cahoots as their winner for ‘Best Social Media Presence 2020’:

“With the creative use of cinemagraphs, videos, gifs and cleverly-styled vintage photography, Cahoots showcases its offering, not least its fantastic cocktail serves, seamlessly to the digital sphere.” – Class Bar Awards 2020

#AWARDS2020 #WINNER

Inception Group WINS ‘Best Digital Campaign’ and ‘Best Use of Video’ at Restaurant Marketer & Innovator Awards 2020!

By News

We are extremely proud to have won TWO awards at the Restaurant Marketer & Innovator Awards 2020, after being shortlisted for FOUR categories! After last year’s success, taking home the award for ‘Launch Campaign of the Year’ for the opening of Mr Fogg’s Society of Exploration, we were thrilled to add two more awards to our shelf! Last night, we won ‘Digital Campaign of the Year’ and ‘Best Use of Video’, for our innovative, multi-channel ‘Own the Bar’ launch campaign for the new Cahoots Ticket Hall & Control Room.

Four years after opening Cahoots Underground, we expanded the brand and narrative to our recently launched Cahoots Ticket Hall & Control Room, which is located opposite the original, on Kingly Street. In doing so, we partnered with Tanqueray No. TEN to create an innovative multi-channel launch campaign that no cocktail bar had ever done before, advertising the job role of a lifetime: to become the ‘owner’ of the new Cahoots venue for one week only!

The chosen applicant would not only take home the opening week’s profits, but also enjoy their own 1940s launch party ‘on the house’, free gin for life in the new venue and so much more! We announced the exciting role through a 1940s-style video created in-house by our marketing team, which won us the award for ‘Best Use of Video 2019’, showcasing all the fun and exciting aspects of the job: https://vimeo.com/360511498

Scroll down to see why RMI chose us for the awards…

DIGITAL CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR

Set inside an abandoned train station in post-war Britain, Cahoots was a clear winner to the judges for embracing the creative nature of the venue and delivering it simply and effectively online through brilliant content. The Inception Group team set out a strategy to increase brand awareness and maximise booking for the new venue.”

BEST USE OF VIDEO

“Cahoots, the well-known brand by Inception Group, won the best use of video award for developing an innovative, fun and on-brand video that showed real creativity. The aim of the campaign was to maximise brand awareness and exposure for the launch, maximise bookings for the new venue, increase social and website traffic, all whilst correctly representing and encompassing the feel of the brand and its values.”

#AWARDS2020 #WINNER

Ready, Set, Bake! The Great Inception Bake Off…

By News

Every Tuesday throughout October 2019, the talented bakers of Inception Group came together to raise money for Crisis UK charity, helping battle homelessness across England, Scotland and Wales. With donations and voting held at Inception HQ each week, we enjoyed a delicious selection of homemade sweet treats and cakes – and it’s safe to say there was some tough competition! At the end of the month, the #InceptionBakers through to the GIBO finals were judged by the founders of Inception Group – Charlie Gilkes and Duncan Stirling – with a little help from guest judges and stars, Natalie Coleman (Winner of Master Chef 2013) and the nation’s GBBO favourite, Selasi, from The Great British Bake Off 2016.

We raised a total of £1,036.06 for Crisis UK!

WINNER: Izzie (PR Manager)

FINALISTS: Tim Harper, Leah Sumeray, Tanya Cleere & Oz Deniz

Well done to Selen (Social Media & Digital Marketing Executive) for organising our first (and very successful) Bake Off, and to everyone that participated and helped us raise money for a very good cause.

NEW VENUE: Cahoots Ticket Hall & Control Room has officially opened…

By Cahoots, Insiders News, News

In October 2019, we expanded our subterranean 1940s bar, Cahoots, with two new unique spaces located right next door on Kingly Street – Cahoots Ticket Hall & Control Room! Inspired by an abandoned train station, The Ticket Hall pays tribute to what previously lay there, with a giant station clock, old split-flap timetables and fading train maps and vintage advertisements peeling off the wall. Hidden beneath the Ticket Hall sits the Control Room. Head down the ‘danger’ marked staircase and into what was once an ‘out-of-bounds’ area for all passengers, that has been transformed into an industrial, quirky speakeasy-style bar, perfect for entertaining and throwing illicit shindigs! Scroll down for a sneak peek into the new venue, or find out more and book a table here.

Mr Fogg’s Tavern wins ‘Best Pub of the Year’ in London Lifestyle Awards

By Insiders News, News

We are very proud to announce that Mr Fogg’s Tavern has come first place for ‘Best Pub in London’ in the London Lifestyle Awards 2019! Inspired by Phileas Fogg’s fictional travels around the world, our Victorian-style pub in Covent Garden is famous for its lively atmosphere, draft beers & ales, hearty lunches and our Instagrammable seasonal flower displays.

Our 80s-themed Chelsea nightclub, Maggie’s, has also won ‘Runner-Up Best Late-Night Venue’ and Mr Fogg’s won overall ‘Runner-Up Best Venue’ for all six venues!

Find out more about each venue here:

Mr Fogg’s Tavern

Mr Fogg’s

Maggie’s

WANT TO OWN THIS BAR?

By Cahoots, Insiders News, News

Ever dreamed of owning your own bar?

If you love gin and all things ‘40s, apply for the role of a lifetime at our new Cahoots Ticket Hall & Control Room and you could take home the opening week’s profits – in CASH! 

Four years after the opening of the original Cahoots, the Scoundrels are taking over the rest of the disused train station, turning the Ticket Hall & Control Room into an illicit and immersive 1940s cocktail bar this November. To help them get the ground running, we’re looking for a quick-witted and talented ‘owner’ to take over the venue for the opening week! Should you be lucky enough to be the ‘chosen owner’, you will be in charge of planning and hosting their very own launch party, on the house! This means you will have the power to:

  • Help create a Tanqueray No. TEN gin cocktail that you can then enjoy on the house FOREVER!
  • Select the top-drawer talent that will perform at your LAUNCH PARTY!
  • Take home the entire first week’s profits – in CASH!
  • Have your name on a permanent plaque inside the Ticket Hall & Control Room.
  • Indulge in a food-tasting before selecting your menu choices.
  • Choose which glad rags the Scoundrel staff will be dressed in.
  • Receive an exclusive personalised bottle of Tanqueray No. TEN gin, with your name on it!

Click here to apply for ‘ownership’ on the Cahoots website today! Applications close on Wednesday 2nd October 2019 at midnight.

Cahoots & Mr Fogg’s at Cocktails in the City Summer 2019

By News

We are delighted to announce that Cahoots are the overall runner-up winners at Cocktails in the City Summer 2019! On the 12th and 13th of July, our Cahoots Scoundrels served up refreshing Tanqueray No. TEN tipples and Negroni-infused ice creams at our 1940s seaside-themed stand that won us ‘Best Stand’ in the competition! Guests enjoyed the sunshine whilst dabbling in lots of seaside fun and games from the 1940s, including Hook a Duck and Coconut Shy (or, in this case, Grapefruit Shy for a chance to win a G&T!).

This year for our Mr Fogg’s stand, we brought the Italian Riviera to Cocktails in the City, inspired by Phileas J. Fogg’s stop-off at Brindisi in Italy on his journey around the world. Decked with a beautiful lemon-filled fountain and a rowing boat for the perfect photo opportunity, Mr Fogg’s resident explorers served delicious O’ndina Gin cocktails and the classic Italian summertime cocktail, the Sgroppino – a refreshing blend of lemon sorbet, Prosecco and O’ndina gin!

CAHOOTS

MR FOGG’S

And the ‘Best Marketing Campaign’ in The Cateys Awards goes to…. Inception Group!

By News

We are thrilled to announce that Inception Group have WON ‘Best Marketing Campaign’ in The Cateys Awards 2019, held at the magnificent Grosvenor House – our second award this year for Mr Fogg’s Society of Exploration’s viral launch campaign! Since 1984, the prestigious Cateys awards have been well-established as ‘a celebration of all that’s great in UK hospitality’, recognising innovative brands from hotels and restaurants to pubs and bars across the UK.

Up against the likes of M Restaurant and Marriott Hotel, the launch campaign for Mr Fogg’s Society of Exploration was a campaign that went viral, advertised as the ‘best job in the world’ with over 10,000 people applying for the chance to travel across the world in the footsteps of the fictional Phileas J. Fogg from Jules Verne’s novel, Around the World in Eighty Days. It received worldwide media attention and included strategic social media and marketing campaigns before opening the venue.

Cahoots pop-up at The London Library…

By News

On Thursday 27th June, Cahoots popped up at The London Library! Our scoundrels served up Tanqueray No. TEN gin cocktails in the magnificent Reading Room, while guests explored the 1940s through fascinating artefacts and extracts from the Blitz, such as shrapnel-damaged books, images of the bombed library, war-time correspondence and newspapers relating to D-Day. Best-selling and prominent writers of the period attended the event, including the likes of Giles Milton, Joshua Levine, Lissa Evans, Rick Stroud and Tim Bouverie. Guests were also given the opportunity to enjoy guided group tours of the library, learning about its history as one of the world’s leading literary institutions founded in 1841.