U.S. vodka brand Svedka has launched a new Halloween-themed campaign offering consumers “lazy costumes” riffing on modern-day phenomena and terminology such as “Resting Bitch Face,” “Eyebrows on fleek” and “Selfie Sticks.”
Developed by Toronto agency Bensimon Byrne, the U.S.-specific “Halloweek” campaign is targeting young adults 25-35.
Bensimon Byrne creative director Dan Strasser said the campaign is a response to a challenge from Svedka parent Constellation Brands to “own” Halloween. The campaign insight, he said, is Halloween celebrations for millennials can last for up to a week, and often require more than one costume.
“We all know you can’t just be wearing the same costume to every party,” said Strasser. “That would just be embarrassing, especially since everyone’s taking photos and tagging you.”
Svedka is promoting the costumes with a two-and-a-half minute Video Catalog on YouTube. The video features a Halloween house party, with brightly painted mannequins representing party guests wearing the costumes.
Viewers can print the costumes directly from the YouTube video, using the video site’s new “Cards” functionality.
Asked about the likelihood of people viewing the video actually printing and wearing one of the costumes, Strasser said the brand has cultivated a highly engaged following on social media that could lead them to take that step.
Svedka was recently ranked as the #2 spirits brand on social media by trade publication The Spirits Business.
While noting it has a modest social media following compared to its rivals (1.4 million Facebook fans, 7,900 Twitter followers and 5,700 Instagram followers), The Spirits Business awarded it a perfect 10 on creativity, saying it has garnered a “dedicated following that regularly engages with colourful, light-hearted posts which often appeal to a sense of occasion.”
Strasser said the campaign is designed to help Svedka gain awareness in a category in which competitors like Absolut outspend it on marketing by as much as 10:1. With no actors and a bare-bones set, production costs on the Halloween campaign were minimal, said Strasser.
“We were looking to take a big swing with limited production resources,” he said. “Rather than let that limit the creative, we embraced it and thought it would really add to the humour.”
While Svedka has launched previous Halloween-themed campaigns, Strasser said it hadn’t traditionally been a big marketing battleground for the spirits category.
“This is the first year we’ve put that pressure on ourselves, and we’re trying to build a foundation for the next few years,” he said. “For a lot of millennials, Halloween is their favourite holiday. They love the dressing up and all the parties that come around; they really go all-out for it.”
Svedka is among the top vodka brands in the U.S., though a recent report from Fortune noted millennials’ continuing switch from vodka to bourbon is impacting the category as a whole, with sales declining nearly 2% between 2010 and 2014.
Svedka had sales of US$105.5 million for the 52 weeks ending Jan. 25, ranking third behind Smirnoff (US$316.3 million) and Absolut ($130.98 million) in the US$1.74 billion category.
