Puma Beer!

The World Cup is just ahead and many companies are getting ready to use this spectacle to promote their brands. In particular major sports brands can not afford to miss out and need to make sure that their campaigns leave a positive mark. Puma has been riding on a fairly positive wave over the past years and now they are teaming up with brewers Collective Sao Gabriel to create a special brew for this year’s World Cup. For many people, sports and beer is a match made in heaven and brands use such partnerships to reach a wider customer base. The particular product they are launching is the Puma Unity Beer with the message of promoting sportsmanship.

I like the positive message behind it and I am sure that they will reach a wide spectrum of consumers with this initiative. Furthermore, extensive media coverage might give the brand the desired exposure and many consumers will conceive it as an amusing way to market a product. However, I don’t really see a clear link between the Puma brand and a beer manufacturer. On top of this, if the beer does not satisfy the taste buds of the consumer, it might affect the brand. Don’t get me wrong, I am an advocate of creative marketing and taking some risks. I might be proven wrong and this turns out to be a huge success, but my initial gut feeling tells me that it won't. It is just my opinion, what do you think?

On the other hand, I can’t wait for the World Cup to start as there will be some exciting games and new ads that will entertain marketers even during commercial breaks. Cheers!

XX Mexican Beer building on Culture!

Cinco de Mayo is around the corner. Being a very important national holiday that involves festivities and in many households surely a few beer, Dos Equis is embrancing the opportunity to further impregnate their brand. National Pride + Holiday + Fun = Dos Equis, or at least they are trying to convey this thought.

Here is the whole article:

Mexican beer brand Dos Equis yesterday launched Expedition Cinco, a mobile marketing tour featuring branded off-road vehicles and unique sampling teams. Inspired by the escapades of the brand’s “The Most Interesting Man in the World” campaign, for two weeks leading up to Cinco de Mayo, the tour will engage consumers in 14 local markets via sampling, promotions and on-premise activations.

“Cinco de Mayo is not only an important Mexican holiday, but [also] an important part of the Dos Equis Mexican heritage,” noted Paul Smailes, brand director, Dos Equis. “Expedition Cinco is an opportunity to bring to life the brand’s adventurous spirit, while creating an authentic and engaging mobile marketing experience for our consumers.”

Expedition Cinco Teams, which consist of an Indiana Jones-like leader and Dos Equis ambassadors dressed as exotic tribal princesses, will travel in branded Dos Equis six-wheeled adventure vehicles to various Dos Equis accounts in the targeted market. The brand ambassadors will distribute such items as rigging carabineers and compasses and provide on-premise sampling opportunities. Consumers can additionally have their pictures taken with the “tribal princesses” in accounts and in front of the adventure vehicles. Consumers can access their photos online at www.ExpeditionCinco.com.

Expedition Cinco will visit Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Houston; Los Angeles; New York; Orlando, Fla.; Phoenix; San Antonio; San Diego; San Francisco and Tampa Bay, Fla. New York-based Mirrorball is the experiential marketing company behind the program.

Source: progressivegrocer.com

Lucky Beer for the Ox!

Building a marketing campaign on cultural believes is a good way to get closer to the target customer. The coming year 2009 will be the year of the Ox in the Chinese calender and Carlsberg is launching in Singapore a festive campaign for Christmas, New Year, and the the Chinese New Year. During times of economic hardship they try to built on the luck factor associated with the Year of the Ox, a good way to make Carlsberg the "lucky beer" that will bring good times back. In my opinion an interesting way to work with associations and I am curious to see what else this campaign encompasses and how they will promote their brand. If you know about any examples where marketers based their branding efforts on similar cultural believes, please share them with us.

The link to the short article


Picture courtesy of: www.brandrepublic.com