The beginning of Sipsmith marked the rise of a modern-day gin-aissance, and the two are not a coincidence.

In spearheading the craft movement, we built a strong and vibrant category around us. But we also risked becoming just another ‘craft gin’; we needed to graduate from start-up, to a leading gin brand of preference.

In other words, it was time to level up to compete with big boys like Gordon’s and our closest competitor, Hendricks. But most importantly, we needed to do that with integrity, because Sipsmith would never for a minute do things the easy way, if it meant bypassing the proper way.

And it was this very truth that unlocked the key to our success. The behavioural science principle of ‘costly signalling’ suggested that fanning our peacock, or rather swan feathers of commitment to things done properly, would turn our grand ambitions into a reality.

And so Mr Swan was born, a campaign that went to near unreasonable lengths to embody craft to its absolute core, while simultaneously piercing the pious conventions...