Diageo AdWatch

Campaign Overview

Hannah Waddingham, the Emmy-winning British actress best known for her role in comedy series Ted Lasso, is starring in a new campaign from Johnnie Walker celebrating women’s sport and encouraging people to help raise its visibility. The rousing project is designed to inspire people to follow not just the Women’s World Cup, which started this month, but to invest in women’s sport in general.

Johnnie Walker is running the activity as part of its ‘Strides’ strategy. A 90 second promotional video ‘Match Day Memos’, seeded on YouTube, shows Hannah talking through statistics, giving an insight into the fact that despite more than 40% of athletes being female, they receive less than 10% of sports news coverage.

To help get some momentum behind the initiative, the brand has teamed up with digital media platform ‘Just Women’s Sports’ to invite drinkers to sign up at a dedicated site to receive ‘Match Day Memos’ from Waddingham, and view this summer’s game day schedule. For those who sign up, video reminders will be sent ahead of key events to ensure fans never miss a match.

Key Learnings

This is a powerful message that is interesting from a brand that is typically male-led. The choice of ambassador is clever and allows it to connect to women and sport in a subtle way – Ted Lasso is rooted in football. Johnnie Walker is donating $100k to its non-profit partner, the Women’s Sports Foundation, to support the work they are doing to expand access and opportunities for women in sport. This investment shows a genuine commitment to this strategy. With Budweiser also investing in the Women's World Cup, it appears brands are committed to supporting women's sports.

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Campaign Overview

Following an open request on its social media platforms, Tequila-flavoured beer brand Desperados has partnered with eight French artists to create eye-catching outdoor billboards that represent individual products in its range.

Each poster encapsulates the colour scheme and energy of the product advertised, such as multi-coloured shards promoting Desperados Tropical, urban reds for Desperado Red and a warmer colour palette for the original Desperados varietal. This eclectic mix of posters showcases the brand’s own diverse range of flavours, highlighting its signature identifier as a mixed-flavour beer brand.

The eight artists working on this project come from different areas within France, again demonstrating the core message of a “mix of flavours”, and posters have been geographically placed to spotlight local artists in their own hometowns.

Key Learnings

Celebrating its broad portfolio of products and giving each one its own unique look and feel allows Desperados to celebrate its many different flavours at an individual and holistic level. Using local emerging artists from all over France ensures the campaign is inclusive and authentic, giving the OOH posters an urban street art feel that imbues the brand with a rebellious and energetic edge that fits its image. By taking the time to spotlight each of its varietals in this campaign, Desperados is diversifying its identity beyond its flagship product and allowing its sub-brands to gain prominence.

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Campaign Overview

Initially launching in the US and Canada before a global rollout in 2024, the campaign explores the bold and uncompromising values of the brand, which exists today as a result of Bill Samuels Sr. burning the 170-year-old family recipe to start from scratch. The flagship video of the campaign is entitled “They Say” and focuses on this historical event to demonstrate the need to “make your mark” and produce something to be proud of.

The first campaign to come from its partnership with Leo Burnett, “Make Your Mark” represents an attempt from the bourbon brand to expand its strong leadership position in North America and to become a global American whisky brand. The creative is stylish with a simple central message about risk and reward, and its tagline succinctly sums up the brand’s ethos whilst remaining indelibly linked to its name.

Key Learnings

Aspirational messages are a common theme in the whisky sector, particularly in the luxury end of the spectrum with the likes of Chivas (“Win the Right Way”) and Johnnie Walker (“Keep Walking”). Maker’s Mark borrows much from these competitors’ strategies, aligning its own personal history with its central theme of success. With its staggered release in North America and globally, the brand is set to build its presence outside of the US and Canada and the effective “make your mark” tagline will help keep the product front-of-mind.

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Campaign Overview

To celebrate the launch of its latest IPA, Cornish brewery Sharp’s Brewery has released a digital video ‘mockumentary’ about the introduction of an AI-based bartender. Gently mocking AI technologies such as ChatGPT, this new “ChatIPA” is an Alexa-esque smart speaker that attempts to replicate the small-talk and conversation provided by human bartenders but inevitably infuriates customers instead.

While the AI bartender and ChatIPA smart speaker are just props for the tongue-in-cheek campaign, it is highly plausible that a brand would actually implement something like this to capitalise on the current tech trends.

Key Learnings

The alcohol industry has been known to embrace new technologies in marketing strategies to appear cutting-edge, but often these “gimmicks” can sometimes make brands appear out of touch. Similar trends that have a mixed reception are Virtual Reality, NFTs, augmented reality and the Metaverse.

AI is currently a divisive topic, with consumers unsure how to react to the automation of jobs and artistic creations, so by adopting a satirical tone, Sharp’s Brewery is able to capitalise on the conversation surrounding AI but without supporting the technology.

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Campaign Overview

Swoon, a relatively new soft drinks brand launched in 2020, prides itself on its line of zero-sugar lemonades and iced teas, with its latest collaboration ‘Barbie x Swoon’ adding a Pink Lemonade to this range in celebration of the release of the Barbie film.

With no sugar, just five calories and 100% of the RDA of Vitamin C, the product is rooted in the brand’s passion for healthy soft drinks which can also be enjoyed as part of a classic cocktail or mocktail. The packaging design is inherently pink, featuring the iconic Barbie logo alongside aesthetically pleasing imagery of core fruit ingredients, designed to create standout on store shelves.

As a key part of a launch, Swoon is donating 10% of total net sales of its Barbie Pink Lemonade to support the ‘Dream Gap Project’, an ongoing global initiative which aims to supply women with resources and support needed to achieve their goals.

Lastly, the brand is also selling a limited number of Barbie Dream Refrigerators as part of the launch, which the brand states “will make a fun edition to any dream house”.

Key Learnings

With the release of Greta Gurwig’s Barbie being one of the most hotly anticipated films of the year, the world has turned a shade of pink with a huge number of brand tie ups seen across different categories. Swoon’s launch extends this into the soft drinks category, with the iconic status of the Barbie brand marrying with Swoon’s core values, centred on bringing joy whilst elevating the everyday, all whilst rooted in female empowerment.

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Campaign Overview

Asahi in Singapore has made the first changes seen to its Super Dry lager since its creation in 1987. The new recipe aims to now include a clean aftertaste, ensuring no lasting flavour, which will allow the brand to continue matching it with various cuisines. Alongside the recipe changes, the brewer has also introduced a new hop treatment process and a new yeast control technology.

Revised packaging is part of the overhaul and the new-look cans bring to life an image of modern Japan, with the design launched in Singapore on 7th July.

To support, an 'Art of Taste' event invited consumers to explore the ingredients in the brand’s products. A ‘yeast room’ allowed them to get up close to the fermentation process, while visitors were also able to experience a 30-minute masterclass in a contemporary izakaya setting, to gain knowledge on how to differentiate between dry and non-dry versions of beer.

The brand use content on Facebook to drive awareness.

Key Learnings

This is a bold move from the brand, and a big change not seen in almost four decades. The revamp exudes a more contemporary image, while will help it to resonate with a more youthful audience. It’s interesting to see the brand retain its focus on food pairing, and we expect further communication around this positioning in the coming months.

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Campaign Overview

The ad has been published in news titles such as Welt Am Sonntag, and shines a spotlight on the growers and processes behind the group’s wines. Specific details are provided on intricate aspects of the winemaking process (“our Moselle winegrowers climb vineyards with inclines of up to 68 degrees” / “more than 180 soils also make this region very demanding”), with the overall “there are better things to read” message suggesting a harmonious link between winemakers and nature, where the producers ‘read’ the grapes to produce quality products.

The campaign is extended online via a dedicated area on the brand’s site. Here, the links between nature and expertise are continued, with the group highlighting specific aspects of its success including award wins and wine festivals.

Key Learnings

We’ve seen this kind of activity from regions and wine-producing bodies before, where an individual group promotes the benefits and accolades of the local area. For Rheinland-Pfalz Gold, the crisp, clear design of the print ads help add to the nature-focused messaging, while the extensive information on the website really gives the campaign extra life.

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