Strongbow has unveiled its “biggest ever” £12 million marketing campaign for its new low-calorie cider Ultra Dark Fruit, telling consumers to “Drink the G.O.A.T”.
The eccentric and slightly absurd advertisement video, created by marketing agency Otherway, features a purple goat nodding its head to garage music, toying with the “Greatest Of All Time” G.O.A.T abbreviation.
The campaign marks the Heineken-owned Strongbow brand’s venture into low calorie alcoholic beverages. The 4% fruity cider has a low 95 kcals count and is hailed as being “refreshingly light” while emulating the taste of the “familiar” Strongbow Dark Fruit flavour.
“Consumers, especially generation Y and Z, want to see alcoholic drinks that fit with their desire to lead more balanced lifestyles,” Heineken UK cider brand director Rachel Holms said.
“With 59% of consumers looking for lighter choices when shopping and 60% of Brits saying taste is the most important factor when buying a drink, there is a clear gap in the market for a lower calorie, flavourful cider, which ULTRA fills.”
READ MORE: Heineken and ITV collaborate to bring alcohol-free beer to Coronation Street and Emmerdale
The cider brand’s advertisement, that aims to shake up the apple tree of cider marketing, made its debut on 25 April in Oxford Circus tube station.
A TV ad version, lasting up to 20 seconds, is planned to premiere on 2 May and features the DJ Sammy Virji track, “Daga Da”.
Holms told Campaign live: “Mainstream or vanilla advertising wasn’t going to get the cut through we really wanted, this had to be disruptive.”
“We need to drive that reappraisal of the brand, in terms of it fitting in with modern-day lifestyles. There’s nothing to fix with Strongbow, but there is everything to gain in terms of making it relevant to our target audience.”
Otherway founder Jono Holt added: “The whole ethos of Strongbow Ultra Dark Fruit is to inspire people to try something new and different. As such, we thought if we are asking people to do something different then we should create something different as well.”
“The G.O.A.T is a well-known symbol of greatness across modern pop-culture, and we thought it would be entertaining to claim our greatness in the drink world as well, hence, the purple goat was born.”
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