Top drinks marketing campaigns and news: May

Beavertown

London brewery Beavertown held an event last month to encourage more people to sign up as blood donors by giving away free pints of its Bloody ’Ell Blood Orange IPA.

Beavertown gave away its fruity beer to the first 500 people who visited its taproom from 2pm on 25 May if they had signed up to be a blood donor.

At the start of the year, the NHS Blood & Transplant Service issued an appeal for more male donors. According to figures published in January, twice as many women gave blood in England than men in 2018. The organisation said that 13,719 women who registered last January became blood donors, compared with only 6,092 men.

Men are more likely to have blood that can be used for products like platelets and allogeneic serum owing to the fact their blood contains fewer antibodies against red and white blood cells.

Beavertown hopes that its campaign will encourage more men to sign up.

Chase

Chase Distillery aired its first advertising campaign, called ‘All in the Chase’, which will run in Curzon and Everyman cinemas, in print media and on billboards.

Founded in 2008 by former potato farmer William Chase, the advertising campaign will champion the distillery’s field to bottle approach. The campaign will consist of a 70-second video, together with stills that will appear in print media and outdoor executions.

The video, which launched in cinemas at the end of May, depicts various stages of the spirits production process, including the potato harvest, fermentation and the production of the base spirit, the distillation of Chase vodka and the re-distillation with botanicals to form Chase gin.

Carlsberg

Carlsberg officially kicked off the celebrity component of its new “honest” marketing campaign in the UK with a TV ad starring Mads Mikkelsen.

The advert will run throughout the summer and “deliver the same honesty and humour as the campaign”, according to a statement from the brewer.

In the video, Mikkelsen confesses that “in the UK, Carlsberg pursued being the biggest, not the best and the beer suffered”.

Fentimans

May’s The Chelsea Flower Show gave businesses the perfect excuse to execute floral brand activations last month.

Botanical mixer brand Fentimans partnered with London hotel The Langham to create the ‘Bed of Roses’ cocktail, and parked a flower-bombed pink Land Rover at the hotel’s front door, creating another Insta-friendly floral destination in London to allow members of the public who couldn’t make it to the show in west London to take their own photos and post on social media.

Mental Health Awareness Week

The UK’s advertising watchdogs are “ready and prepared” to clamp down on alcohol brands that sell their drinks to young consumers by suggesting they will be happier, more confident, or successful, a panel of experts warned during Mental Health Awareness week in May.

Amy Powell, client relationships manager at PromoVeritas, said that some brands have already struggled to get this right, falling foul of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). Powell was addressing a room of brand owners, bartenders, and marketers at an event focusing on the relationship between alcohol and wellbeing in London, coinciding with Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK.

She cited a 2016 by Captain Morgan rum, which the ASA banned after finding it implied that alcohol can improve people’s confidence.

According to the ASA, claiming that alcohol has therapeutic qualities or is the answer to overcoming boredom and loneliness or other problems, will “pretty much always break the rules”, Powell said. She added that brands need to ensure that their marketing campaigns do not inadvertently target under-age drinkers.

The warning comes after a study by the University of Stirling and Cancer Research found that young people’s awareness of alcohol marketing is associated with increased and higher-risk consumption.

Bacardi

Rum brand Bacardi is collaborating with a tech startup on a new marketing initiative that uses voice technology to persuade more consumers to opt for its Añejo Cuatro Dark Rum.

The rum maker has launched an offer with tech startup Send me a Sample, which works on both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, to offer potential customers in Germany a free trial of its Bacardi Añejo Cuatro Dark Rum.

Bacardi will target Alexa and Assistant owners over the age of 18 who have “previously expressed an interest” in Bacardi’s brands with paid-for adverts on Facebook and Instagram, as well as influencer-led posts.

The adverts will show “a call to action,” the company said, explaining how consumers can request a sample.

Nyetimber

English wine producer Nyetimber has named equestrian stars William Fox-Pitt and Alice Plunkett as its 2019 brand ambassadors at the start of May.

Plunkett, a former eventer and National Hunt jockey, is now a lead presenter for ITV Racing, having previously hosted equestrian events for Channel 4 Racing, Eurosports, Radio 5 Live and SkySports.

Fox-Pitt, the winner of three Olympic medals, will be competing at the 2019 Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials. His appearance marks his twentieth appearance at Badminton since his career began in 1984.

Brewdog, and then Forest Road Brewing…

A brewery in east London responded to Brewdog’s new Punk IPA ad campaign by encouraging people to take pictures of themselves holding bottles of its own flagship beer to cover the Scottish brewer’s cans in the ads.

Brewdog launched its own marketing campaign last month during an ad break in an episode of HBO’s Game Of Thrones. Dubbed the “most honest ad ever”, the brewery put together a 30-second video featuring the word ADVERT displayed in large font with a can of Punk IPA in front of it while thrash metal music plays. On buses, the ad is worded ‘ADVERT ON A BUS’ above a picture of a can of the ale.

In response, Forest Road Brewing Co, backed in Hackney, is asking fans of its craft beer to take pictures of themselves holding bottles of its flagship Work IPA to cover the cans of Brewdog in the ads – and then share their images on social media with @forestroadbrew and the hashtag #beerthatworks both on Instagram and Twitter.

Loire Valley Wines

Loire Valley Wines has announced the launch of a new consumer marketing campaign in the UK presenting the Loire as an ultimate wine destination, with a month-long focus on the French region in the capital.

Beginning in early June the campaign, called ‘Loire Bucket List’,  will include events, competitions and social media partnerships as well as retail promotions with independent wine merchants across the UK.

Virgin Holidays

Supermodel and pub owner Jodie Kidd has teamed up with Virgin Holidays in order to find a British bartender to provide cover for a bar owner in Jamaica, so that he can have his first holiday in 18 years.

The travel operator is offering the chance to work at Floyd’s Pelican bar, which is located off the coast of Jamaica in the Caribbean Sea. The floating bar, which was built in 2001, is only accessible by boat and specialises in Piña Coladas and rum punches.

According to the published job description, the successful candidate must be willing to commute by boat or paddle board, chat with locals and tourists, manage the music playlist, throw the occasional fish to the resident pelicans, welcome passing boats with refreshments and be able to multitask. “It can be tricky to hand out beer and appreciate the glistening turquoise water at the same time,” it added.

Beefsteak Club

Ehrmanns-owned wine brand Beefsteak Club has unveiled its second London bus advertising campaign coinciding with the London Wine Fair.

Called ‘Raise the Steaks’ the campaign – which launched on London Routemaster buses last month – has an estimated reach of 2.48 million people. It will tie in with a social media competition where consumers can win a bottle of wine by taking a picture of the bus and uploading it onto social media with the hashtag #RaiseTheSteaks.

Supporting video content has also been released alongside the campaign and is featured on the brand’s homepage.

Moët & Chandon

Champagne house Moët & Chandon has announced that its ‘members club’, the Moët Summer House, will return to London for three days this June.

Popping up from 7-9 June in central London, the club will host a range of events including meals and live sets and cocktail making.

British chef Jason Atherton, Moët’s UK ambassador, will prepare lunch on the Saturday and a roast on Sunday as well as the dinner menus.