Diageo AdWatch

Campaign Overview

The brand has partnered with creative agency Ogilvy Malaysia to create “It’s a Matter of Taste”, a new multi-media campaign that highlights the quality, taste and brewing process that makes Guinness the popular beer it is today. Four 20-second ads invite ‘bold’ customers to take up the challenge, with only those with good taste being able to ‘step through the flames’ and join Guinness on a journey towards a ‘million new worlds’. Moreover, print ads showcase the production processes that go into creating Guinness: “3,000,000 bubbles surge and settle to create a taste that’s smooth and creamy”.

Pablo Chabot, marketing director, Heineken Malaysia Berhad: “Ogilvy never fails to deliver on energy and knowledge – a global powerhouse with strong local insights and shared goals. The team showed a great appreciation for our brand values but are also able to think holistically about all the elements that are needed to level up Guinness’s position in Malaysia.”

Key Learnings

This campaign does an effective job of underlining how good taste permeates everything that Guinness does: its beer is scientifically brewed to achieve the perfect flavour, and its branding and its beverages attract consumers who demonstrate individualism and trailblazing characteristics. By emphasising how superior products attract quality individuals, Guinness is depicted as a commodity to be had by customers wishing to demonstrate good judgement, those that truly appreciate the quality the brand has to offer.

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Campaign Overview

This digital video, which has also been broadcast on Spanish television, sees a group of friends ask each other what Ambar tastes like. The company posits two metaphors: the flavour is comparable to someone measuring only 1.70m winning a basketball dunk contest, or a small band playing to a crowd of 60,000 people. Crucially, it tastes of a small company who make their beer using freshly ground hops, resulting in a great flavour. Size, therefore, is not an indication of quality or success.

Sergi Martínez, marketing director of the Agora Group, which owns Ambar: “We want to show the passion with which we make our beer (…) being small allows you to be authentic, non-conformist and very demanding, and thus overcome difficulties and be happier. In fact, it is the story of our lives!”

Key Learnings

Whilst Ambar brands itself as a small brewer in this campaign, it is keen to emphasise how it still possesses the expertise and capabilities to compete with the larger multinationals. Indeed, its smaller stature actually gives it tremendous advantages, with an emphasis on ensuring only the very best ingredients are used to create the highest-quality products. Moreover, Ambar’s choice to market itself as a small enterprise, one that brews on the banks of the Ebro river in Zaragoza, guarantees that customers appreciate the authenticity that goes into producing every single beer the company brings to the market.

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Campaign Overview

This digital video, which featured on the company’s owned channel and across online advertising, highlights how customers can personalise the gin they buy from Archie Rose. The company outlines how consumers can tailor the product to their taste, choosing from different botanical blends to achieve the perfect bespoke flavour. Moreover, the brand also offers personalised packaging, with special labels on sale with different fonts and designs to ensure customer messages are displayed in the ideal fashion. The company is directing potential buyers to a dedicated microsite, where they can easily pick and choose their most suitable bottled spirit.

Key Learnings

This initiative demonstrates the breadth of quality ingredients and services Archie Rose has on offer, with customers able to express their individuality and personal taste through the brand’s customisation platform. Moreover, the tailored nature of the gin means that it will appeal to serious drinking connoisseurs, those who have the knowledge and expertise to assemble a great-tasting bottle of gin. Moreover, the bespoke nature of these products will invariably make for perfect gifts, as consumers eye the items as presents for birthdays and other special occasions.

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Campaign Overview

This creative documents how Corona used social media to educate and inform Ecuadorian consumers on its new Tropical hard seltzer, and how the beverage differed from the other beers it is known for producing. Instead of paying influencers to help advertise the new product, the company devised a far more cost-effective plan: in a 17-day activation, the brand offered a free Corona Tropical to every Instagram user who featured the beverage in their story. The initiative resulted in 1,600 new followers for its Instagram page, an 84% positive sentiment score, and a 297% sales growth, with Corona running out of products within the first month of introducing it to market.

Key Learnings

Offering free samples is a common marketing tactic used by brands in the food and drink sector, with these tester products used to entice customers into making future purchases. Corona, however, have taken this initiative further, by using the free samples to generate a substantial social media campaign, one that introduces Ecuador to hard seltzers in a fun and engaging manner. All of this has been achieved without any influencer investment, ensuring low marketing costs and higher profits, and giving Corona Tropical the best chance it has of making a big impression in Ecuador.

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Campaign Overview

This light-hearted digital video sees a protagonist trying to relax after a long day, with her happy solitude disrupted by the presence of her brother, who is insistent on playing the banjo. In a daydream, the sister imagines breaking the instrument over her knee, in an attempt to stop her sibling bothering her. She is disrupted from her trance by the iconic sound of a Sprite opening, with the fizzing sound bringing her back to reality. She decides against losing her cool, and instead relaxes and refreshes her mind and mood with an ice-cold glass of Sprite.

Key Learnings

This Turkish ad further demonstrates Sprite’s commitment to establishing and maintaining a unified global marketing strategy, with ‘keeping one’s cool’ the core benefit to much of the company’s creative across the globe. (Indeed, this was the case for a Bangladeshi ad rolled out during April 2022). By emphasising how Sprite acts as the perfect reward for a hard day’s work, the brand is highlighting how it is an indispensable mood-booster, with customers feeling a noticeable mental benefit when consuming the soft drink.

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Campaign Overview

Hornitos celebrated National Tequila Day by transporting the agave fields of Mexico to NYC for its ‘Visions of Agave’ art experience. MADSTEEZ took inspiration from the time he spent in Jalisco to create his works of art, aiming to capture the striking vibrancy and rich heritage of Mexican tequila production. Visitors were able to take a tour of the tequila-making process, with each of the exhibition’s rooms designed to be an artistic interpretation of how it is manufactured. As well as being educated, visitors were also able to sample custom cocktails, and enter themselves into a competition to win a trip to Mexico to experience the agave fields and birthplace of Hornitos first-hand.

MADSTEEZ: "Walking into the vibrant agave fields at both sunrise and sunset, I was immediately inspired by the Jimadores and their craft of harvesting the agave plants -- an artform that has been passed down over many generations. With "Visions of Agave," I wanted to recreate this beautiful scene in my own image and colour palette and allow others to be able to "see" the landscape and experience the agave fields first-hand while still in the heart of Manhattan."

Key Learnings

Exploring a brand’s history and heritage is a popular tactic seen throughout the alcohol sector, with companies keen to showcase how their businesses have grown from humble beginnings. The ‘Visions of Agave’ exhibition demonstrates just this, as Hornitos pays tribute to its Mexican heritage, but in a uniquely visual and interactive manner. The experience emphasises how Hornitos Tequila can take customers on a sensory journey, with consumers able to enjoy an authentic taste of Mexico wherever they are in the world. Whilst the campaign might look back in time for inspiration, the decision to collaborate with MADSTEEZ outlines how Hornitos is committed to ensuring its brand is as fresh, modern and boundary-pushing as possible.

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Campaign Overview

The South African wine producer has brought to market W.O. Western Cape Sauvignon Blanc and Shiraz, with both being packaged in bottles with 100% recyclable paperboard outers. Moreover, the bottles are estimated to weigh five times less and have a carbon footprint six times lower than an average glass equivalent. Journey’s End partnered with Interpunkt to create this new packaging, with Interpunkt’s mission statement to make wine more accessible, engaging and inclusive.

Rollo Gabb, managing director of Journey's End: "Sustainable wine production is at the very heart of what we do at Journey's End, and we are constantly striving to make improvements (…) Not only is the sustainable story of the paperboard bottle hugely compelling, but the creativity of the co-branding of Interpunkt with Journey's End allows us to continue to build on our conversation with environmentally minded consumers."

Key Learnings

Paper-based bottles are becoming increasingly prevalent in the alcohol sector, after trailblazing brands took the technological leap to introduce this type of packaging, (such as Diageo with the creation of the world’s first-ever paper-based spirits bottle in 2020). With customers becoming more environmentally conscious, sustainability may become as important as taste in the drinks industry. Crucially, this initiative adds towards Journey’s End’s commitment to being ecologically aware: it is a founding member of the Sustainable Wine Roundtable, a recipient of several 'green business' awards, and was the second winery in South Africa to convert to solar power.

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