At Bar Convent Brooklyn, Pierrick Bouquet, COO of Mermaid Gin, shares the beverage alcohol playbook on why spirits brands must put “Authenticity First, Technology Second.” Pierrick addresses the trap of modern marketing: the industry has entered an “age of infinite content” where feeds are flooded with interchangeable, AI-generated imagery. But as Pierrick highlights, consumers still need authentic stories rooted in origin, craft, people, and purpose. Rather than chasing digital metrics, Mermaid Gin looked at the physical on-premise environment and reimagined one of the most overlooked, obsolete bar touchpoints: the paper coaster.
Park Street Imports is the back-office and importing solution for alcoholic beverage brands launching and scaling in the U.S. market.
Pierrick Bouquet’s Presentation Transcript
Nice to meet everyone, and thank you for being here today.
I’ve been in this industry for about two decades, and my primary passion is storytelling. As technology has taken on a much larger role in our industry, I want to explore the idea that we must be careful with how we deploy technology in brand building.
The core takeaway is simple: Authenticity first, technology second.
While we may feel pressured to adopt every new technology tool, we must remain grounded in what consumers actually want and value.
Look at the images filling Instagram feeds today—they are all starting to look identical. We have entered an era of infinite content where everyone has access to the exact same generative AI tools to create polished imagery. While AI renders look visually striking, consumers do not fall in love with content—they fall in love with real stories.
As digital content becomes ubiquitous, physical authenticity becomes vastly more valuable. The brands winning today possess real origin stories, true craftsmanship, meaningful purpose, authentic people, and genuine human connection. The goal for brand owners is to extract those core truths and use technology as an enabler to amplify them.
Case Study: Transforming the Forgotten Coaster into an AR Platform
In the gin category, the most common consumer question is: “What botanicals are in your liquid?” For Mermaid Gin, our signature botanical is rock samphire. To tell that ingredient story, we took an overlooked piece of paper that has sat on bar tops for generations—the coaster—and combined it with augmented reality (AR).
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ THE AR COASTER EXPERIENTIAL FLOW │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 1. THE FRICTIONLESS ENABLER ➔ Guest scans QR code on physical coaster. │
│ 2. IMMEDIATE ENGAGEMENT ➔ Camera opens instantly (no app download). │
│ 3. 3D BRAND IMMERSION ➔ A 3D Mermaid Gin bottle emerges on screen. │
│ 4. BOTANICAL STORYTELLING ➔ Interactive elements detail rock samphire & │
│ island-harvested strawberries on screen. │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
For decades, a coaster had a simple job: protect the wooden table, display a brand logo, or link to a standard website. But when consumers sit at a bar or restaurant table, there is a dedicated moment of discovery and conversation.
In many venue environments, brand awareness is low—the bottle might be hidden on a back bar or unlisted on a cocktail menu. The AR coaster bridges that gap, initiating a 1-on-1 brand conversation right at the table without relying entirely on a busy bartender to explain the liquid credentials.
Why the Strategy Works: Turning Exposure into Participation
People remember interactive experiences over passive impressions. The AR coaster works because it transforms passive brand exposure into active brand participation:
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Social Amplification: Consumers record their screens, screenshot the 3D bottle, and organically post it to Instagram or TikTok.
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Gamification Potential: Creates opportunities to incentivize consumers to collect interactive coasters across different venue stockists.
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Direct Path-to-Purchase: Directs users to nearby retail stockists based on geolocation or enables direct-to-consumer (D2C) web purchases.
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Rich Consumer Data: Captures real-time scan locations, time-of-day engagement metrics, and consumer demographic data previously inaccessible in on-premise accounts.
We have deployed roughly 60,000 of these interactive AR coasters across target venue accounts in 20 U.S. states.
Key Takeaways for Brand Founders
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Technology is the Enabler, Not the Innovation: The core innovation wasn’t AI software or augmented reality—it was transforming a forgotten touchpoint into a storytelling channel.
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Deepen Authenticity: Dissect your brand history, isolate the core elements that create an emotional connection, and use technology to highlight those specific truths.
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Create Memories: Build interactive touchpoints that surprise consumers and turn standard drinking moments into lasting brand experiences.
Thank you very much!