Stella Artois' Work For Wimbledon Spans TV, OOH, Theatre, VoD, Digital, Social & Trade

Stella Artois is leveraging its status as the Official Beer of The Championships through a new 360° Wimbledon campaign inspired by the personal journeys and modest beginnings of those behind the origins of the beer and of the tennis tournament.

The integrated campaign, which launched on 13 June, celebrates the legacy of the legendary tennis championships and the beer brand starting with the humble beginnings of their founders and following their journey to their globally renowned status today.

The activation spans TV, OOH, digital, social (including Twitter Amplify and Snapchat), VoD, packaging, on- and off-trade and an immersive theatre experience called ‘The Time Portal’.

The latter experience activation strand, which takes place over five days in London, was created in collaboration with Olivier Nominated theatre troupe Les Enfants Terribles and with creative studio Framestore, transports audiences back to Victorian London for a fantastic interactive adventure in search of the first Wimbledon.

The advertising phase of the campaign is led by a TV commercial – ‘Never Heard Of It’ – which whisks viewers back to Victorian London as it tells the tale of where the property and sponsor’s legacies began.

The story starts with a young man struggling to sell tickets to a new event – which as it turns out, is to the very first Wimbledon.

After being rebuffed by all kinds of colourful Victorian characters, he’s about to give up when his spirits are lifted by an encounter with a bar owner who offers him a taste of an unknown beer from Belgium (an early export from the Artois Breweries).

He takes comfort in knowing he’s not the only one trying to turn an unknown name into a lasting legacy.

The spot, which is produced by Biscuit Films and directed by Andreas Nilsson (known for his cinematic style), is inspired by classically crafted set-builds typical of Technicolor classic period movies (like ‘Gone with the Wind’) and has been developed with agency Mother (with PR by Golin).

The TV ad is supported by Facebook-specific films running up until the end of The Championships – which constitute just one platform strand of the campaign’s social media phase.

This digital activity also sees Stella Artois become the first alcohol brand in the UK to advertise on Snapchat, owning 100% SoV for the three key days of the Wimbledon Live Feed – Day 1 of The Championships and for all of finals weekend.

Stella Artois is also continuing its partnership with The Championships Wimbledon and Twitter Amplify and is sponsoring all of Wimbledon’s official non-play content on Twitter (aiming to secure 100% platform SoV).

Another interesting digital asset sees the official beer leverage Sky Advance technology in order to actively target those tennis fans that have watched Wimbledon on the BBC through premium VoD.

A linked digital and outdoor phase of the leverage campaign sees Stella team-up with consumer data provider Locomizer to aggregate Wimbledon chatter on Twitter to the areas of highest conversation.

The beer brand’s marketing team will use this data to target the nearest OOH location and select hero on-trade accounts that fall in ‘super hotspots’ to provide additional Wimbledon on-trade activation assets.

Advertising will be featured on OOH TV through GPM360 and CScreens – including 3,000 screens in bars around the nation and 12 large outdoor screens.

These giant outdoor screens will be placed in London’s Regents Place, Broadgate, Paddington, the More London Festival big screen by Tower Bridge and St Pauls, as well as Meadow Hall Sheffield, Bath, Central St Giles and the Wimbledon Fanzone itself.

The sponsorship experience and ad campaign will dovetail with a limited edition Stella Artois Wimbledon packaging – which includes a special edition 660ml bottle with a white and red wrap design.

There is also a series of on- and off-trade activity aimed at ensuring customers have the right tools to maximise sales throughout the Championships.

‘We are thrilled to mark our return as The Official Beer of The Championships Wimbledon with this hugely exciting new campaign,’ explains Rowan Chidgey, Senior Brand Manager, Stella Artois.

‘This legendary tennis tournament and our best-selling Belgian beer have shared similar journeys as once unknowns who have distinguished themselves over time. We hope that their stories will help inspire our audience to get out there and make their mark on the world.’

Chidgey explains that the brand is focusing on theatre in a bid to stay relevant with younger audiences – as emotion and experience are everything.

‘Millennials in London love to attend festivals and visit events like Secret Cinema. We’re the number one beer brand, but we have to stay relevant. We wanted to take the Wimbledon experience beyond the courts,’ she adds.

‘We knew we needed to create something incredible. It needs to be an experience that people want to talk about and share. A lot of the campaign is based around word of mouth. We’re doing a 360-degree campaign and we’re going bigger than ever. It’s quite an emotive campaign, which is something we’ve never done before. We used to focus more on the physical elements of our brand but now we’re prioritising the human values.’

Comment

This is an impressively integrated activation that blends immersive experiences, contemporary technologies, traditional media and neatly linked brand/property storytelling.

In fact, like Wimbledon itself, this campaign cleverly combines the best of the traditional and the contemporary.

It also sits at the heart of the brand’s current big picture strategy.

Sponsorships are a key plank of the beer’s current objective of shifting consumer perceptions in its 90-plus markets to solidify the brand’s position to highlight its handcrafted process, natural ingredients and premium status and reinforce its slot as the world’s fourth most valuable beer brand.

Other sponsorships within this strategy have included The Open (Golf) Championships, Le Festival de Cannes and Abierto Argentino de Polo.

It follows on from the beer brand’s 2015 Wimbledon activation that included some early, innovative 360° work built around The Championships’ Rufus The Hawk (see case study).

This campaign marks the second chapter of the beer brand’s ‘Be Legacy’ drive – which aims to inspire consumers to leave their own mark on the world.

Links

Stella Artois Wimbledon ‘Time Portal’ Experience:

http://wimbledon.stellaartois.com/the-time-portal

Stella Artois Web:

www.stellaartois.com

Stella Artois YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/stellaartoisuk

Stella Artois Twitter:

https://twitter.com/StellaArtoisUK

@StellaArtoisUK

Stella Artois Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/stellaartoisuk