Nearly a year after first landing Svedka vodka as a client, Toronto agency Bensimon Byrne is launching its first U.S.-wide campaign for the brand.
Working with photographer Matt Barnes, Bensimon Byrne designed the digital and out-of-home campaign to use various products’ colour palettes and imagery to show young people partying.
Joseph Bonnici, creative director at Bensimon Byrne, said the new look is designed to show “that the world of possibilities that can happen every day or night is expressed through what comes through the bottle. There’s a sense of anticipation for what can happen at any moment.”
The new creative has been trickling out slowly since February, when Ad Age first announced the phasing out of the brand’s “fembot” character. The brand’s Facebook page has also been leaking snapshots of the new work since April. On Wednesday morning, however, the campaign’s full media buy kicked in. Billboards were set to be errected in major centres such as Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami. A domination is planned for New York’s Union Square, and a hand-painted mural ad will be created in Venice Beach, Calif.
A digital/mobile buy of banner ads, pre-roll video and vokens was also ready to go live Wednesday. Television was left off the media plan altogether.
“This campaign is all about being incredibly relevant to millennials,” Bonnici said. “They’re online and really socially engaged. To be strong in digital is key to reaching them. Same with out-of-home. Millennials are either on the street or on their phones.”
The first wave of ads will focus on new Svedka flavours – Strawberry Colada and Orange Cream Pop. A second phase of ads will appear in autumn.
The agency first won digital and social media duties for the brand (which is owned by Constellation Brands) in June 2012. It subsequently won full-scope agency of record duties in the fall, and began working with Constellation’s New York marketing team on phasing out the long-used “fembot” for this national campaign.
“It was a joint feeling that there was an opportunity to focus on imagery that relates much more to the lifestyle of millennials,” Bonnici said. “It’s related to the lifestyle that millennals are leading instead of having a more detached figure representing the brand.”
