Labatt Breweries has launched a television and online campaign for its Kokanee brand, the first major campaign since the brewer wrapped its long-running Ranger campaign last August.
A 30-second TV spot, which will appear solely in Western Canada, launched during last night’s Hockey Night in Canada broadcast. Shot using a point-of-view style, the ad follows a man through his busy day taking part in a variety of activities, from mundane affairs such as brushing his teeth and showering to more spirited endeavours such as biking, kayaking, snowboarding and partying at a club. The spot concludes with a super reading “Right now, there are still more hours in the weekend,” followed by Kokanee’s new tag line, “It’s all about now.”
The television ad is supported by cinema ads, 15-second online spots and a redesigned Kokanee website, all by Toronto’s Grip Ltd.
The campaign represents the first major advertising initiative from Kokanee since last year’s Ranger “Live or Die” campaign, in which Western Canadian consumers voted to kill off the Kokanee Ranger character.
The new creative foregoes the humour of the Ranger campaign to capture the spirit of the Western Canadian beer consumers that constitute the brand’s core market, said Richard Fortin, national marketing manager for Kokanee.
“From a TV perspective, we are literally looking through the eyes of our target consumer, and doing it with tons of energy,” he said. “We’re bringing to life that Western Canadian lifestyle of living in the moment.”
Along with the new advertising creative, Kokanee has also updated its packaging.
The redesign comes courtesy of Toronto’s Jump Branding and Design and was aided by feedback from consumers on Kokanee’s Facebook page. Kokanee displayed three design concepts on the page late last year and invited visitors to share their opinions, then incorporated the resulting commentary into the final modifications of the packaging.
“If you look at what we did last year with Ranger ‘Live or Die,’ it was obviously a program that was very strong in terms of consumer engagement and participation, and reaching out to consumers about the packaging was just an extension of that,” said Fortin. “It’s something we’re going to continue to do going forward.”
