Viral Insight: Soft drinks and alcohol marketing trends

SOCIAL VIDEO INSIGHT REPORT

Image source: Flickr - OpalMirror

Soft Drinks and Alcohol Video Trends // November ’13

INTRO
Welcome to VAN’s regular insight report. This month we’re looking at
viral trends in the sphere of soft drinks and alcohol.
This document is comprised of:
• Brand insights
• Viral ad campaign case studies
• UGC insights
• Social media influencer insights
We used TubeRank, VAN’s viral planning tool, to analyse some of the
most popular ads of 2013 and break down the main viral triggers and
conversation points that made them so successful.

BRAND TRENDS: ALCOHOL
Key brand observations
What does your drink say about you?
Historically, alcohol companies have had a strong association with a certain
type of “lifestyle”, your drink of choice being seen as both an extension of who
you are and who you want to be. For this reason, alcohol brands tend to be
marketed at specific audience demographics, often including a strong gender
bias.
Beer and lager brands in particular are renowned for their male oriented
campaigns, usually using jokey humour, sports and sexual cues to appeal to
their target audience. Interestingly, these conversation triggers offer extremely
successful viral sharing cues and some of the most popular viral ads of the year
have come from the likes of Heineken and Carlsberg with their hidden camera
pranks and elaborate IRL comedy stunts.
In contrast, spirits and wine brands tend to have relatively fewer viral hits,
choosing instead to align them selves with attributes like sophistication,
sexiness, power and a successful desirable lifestyle. Often these videos, whilst
alluring to watch, are missing the sense of humour and wider appeal needed to
generate conversations and encourage viral sharing.

SOCIAL VIDEO INSIGHT REPORT - Soft drinks & alcohol // November ’13

Source Flickr: Auntie P

PAGE 1

CASE STUDIES: BEER & LAGER
*Shares: 761 | Views: 564,737

SHARE-TO-VIEW RATIO = 1:742

Click to play

COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST:

Heineken: Dropped (July 2013)
As part of its ‘Man of the World’ campaign, Heineken focused on a global travel theme by
launching a reality style web series called Dropped. The campaign took different men from
across the world and dropped them in remote locations with nothing but basic supplies and
directions. The result was a series of episodic adventures following their legendary travel
experiences.
In addition to a dedicated website, fans were also directed to the Dropped YouTube
channel where they could follow the progress of each voyage and contribute their video
entries to win a chance of taking part in their own travel adventure.

#Wins

• The series acted as a social experiment providing a clever way for the brand to appeal to
Travel

Sports

Internet
culture

CONVERSATION TRIGGERS:

the aspirations of fans of travel and adventure.

• The open competition and

reality TV format helped Heineken to create socially relatable
characters, making viewers more likely to identify with the story lines.

#Fails

• The video doesn’t quite score highly enough on any of the TubeRank viral triggers to get
people talking about and sharing it. The low share/view ratio indicates that the brand
probably had to put a significant media spend behind the view count.
* Stats are for an example video in the series, not the whole campaign

• The whole campaign was spread across 30 videos, diluting the overall impact of the
individual videos and reducing their viral impact.


PAGE 2

Shares: 77,938 | Views: 3,967,039


Tui Beer: Guy finds house plumbed with beer (Sep 2013)
New Zealand based niche brewery, Tui teamed up with a group of local men to prank their
friend by re-plumbing his entire house to dispense nothing but beer. The team then rigged the
building with hidden cameras to capture his hilarious reaction.

#Wins:

• Public prank campaigns have become increasingly popular in viral marketing and beer

Internet
culture

General


brands lend themselves perfectly to the format, often relying on juvenile humour and targeting
a largely male demographic. The video worked so well because it made people think about
how they would react in that situation and the idea of having chilled beer literally ‘on tap’ in
your own home is many men’s idea of paradise.

• The attention to detail and elaborate nature of the stunt, combined with hilarious reaction
footage, provided plenty of conversation triggers, from hilarity to disbelief and the video
received extensive media coverage, catapulting the relatively unknown brand into the viral
limelight.

#Fails:

• There’s a fine line between keeping the branding in a viral campaign subtle and risking

having your marketing message lost in the noise. The Tui Brewery just about managed to fall
the right side of the fence, but the brand could have benefited from a more obvious
association to the video, with many people assuming it was just another UGC YouTube stunt.


PAGE 3

Shares: 206,547 | Views: 7,585,485


Guinness: Basketball commercial (Sep 2013)
As part of Guinness’ ‘Made of More’ campaign, designed to celebrate the resilience of the
human spirit, the brand released an ad featuring a group of men playing wheelchair
basketball. The heartwarming video manages to capture the essence of friendship in an
unexpected twist at the end… with the exception of just one guy who is physically wheelchair
bound, they all stand up and walk.

#Wins:

• The video scored high for emotional conversation triggers. Beer brands tend to be


renowned for producing stereotypically masculinized campaigns, so it makes a refreshing
change to see a company use sentimentality as a viral talking point.

• The high production values, complete with a moving sound track and the voice of a silver
Sports

Music


General

tongued narrator creates a cinematic style which makes the video a pleasure to watch and
increases its sharability.

#Fails:

• Guinness is famed for iconic advertising campaigns, including Surfer and Back in Time.

However, with more and more beer brands launching interactive campaigns packed full of
high octane stunts and elaborate pranks, this traditional advertising style has become
somewhat outdated. The brand has received criticism recently for failing to target younger
generations and woo new consumers.


PAGE 4

CASE STUDIES: SPIRITS
Shares: 1147 | Views: 1,359,149


Grey Goose: Fly beyond (Oct 2013)
Traditionally Grey Goose’s advertising has been less about the product itself than the
elegant sexy people who drink it. Like many other spirits brands, the vodka manufacturer
has focused on selling the concept of sophistication and glamour that is often associated
with cocktail bars and the party life style.
Last month Grey Goose launched a new campaign focusing on its status as a luxury
vodka brand by highlighting the history and craftsmanship that goes into the drink’s
production.


#Wins

• The video revolves around the remarkable story of how the brand’s creator defied
General


expectations in France and throughout the spirits world to create a vodka that would set
a standard of luxury in the super premium category. It’s a clever way to put a personal
face to the brand and create the impression of a specialist craft distillery that appeals to
sophisticated consumers who care about where their products come from.

#Fails

• Ultimately this is a TV ad with a media spend for online views and it lacks a specific

target community of interest and the relevant conversational triggers to make it sharable
- as indicated by the extremely low share to view ratio.


PAGE 5

Shares: 12,278 | Views: 397,353


Southern Comfort: Karate | Whatever’s Comfortable (Aug 2013)
Southern Comfort has long positioned itself as a drink that can be enjoyed at relaxing
occasions where people feel free to just ‘be themselves’. Karate is the latest instalment
in the brand’s ‘Whatever’s Comfortable’ campaign - a series of character portraits that
wordlessly give viewers a glimpse into the life of a unique individual who goes about his
business, his way, with Southern Comfort in hand.
Following the success of Beach, the spirit manufacturer has stepped away from its
earlier attempts to rebrand Southern Comfort as a trendy new drink to be enjoyed by
young partygoers, (remember those terrible old So-Co ads?), and instead opted for a
unique deadpan comedic style.


#Wins
Internet
culture

Film


Music

• In contrast to the glamorous young socialites that tend to be a staple part of the

marketing of most spirits companies, Southern Comfort has gone for for a somewhat
unlikely brand hero – the middle aged, mustached oddball! The unusual character and
surreal scenario makes the video score highly for ‘LOL’ and ‘WTF’ conversation triggers.

• The ‘whatever’s comfortable’ slogan celebrates the fact that it’s okay to simply ‘be who
you are’, delivering the message that Southern Comfort is the drink of the ‘average
winner’.

• Despite having a relatively low view count, the high sharing ratio shows that the video is
ticking the right boxes the get people talking about the campaign.


PAGE 6

Shares: 2,351 | Views: 361,992


Pop
culture


From Warhol to Jay-Z, ABSOLUT vodka has a rich heritage of collaborating with
inspirational personalities. As part of its ‘Transform Today’ campaign, the brand enlisted
a group of 4 contemporary artists from around the world, whose work embodied the spirit
of creativity and challenging the norm. The result was a 90-second film intended to
inspire others to change their lives.
When it comes to a prime example of the tendency for spirits brands to market their
products around the idea of a desirable life style then this is it. The message is clear, the
type of people who drink this particular brand of vodka are cool, trendy, cutting edge and
not afraid to challenge the norm. The aspirational slogan of the ad is that Absolut is a
brand that ‘allows you to become who you want to become’.

Music

ABSOLUT: Transform Today (Sep 2013)

Fashion

#Wins
The ad is shot in a cinematic style with an atmospheric musical soundtrack and
showcasing some genuine artistic talent. The result is a stylish cocktail intended to align
the brand with a young, daring, creative generation that is actually pretty interesting to
watch.

#Fails
Ultimately this is still a video packed full of attractive model types partying with the
artists, a glass of vodka in hand. Whilst scoring highly on talent it generally lacks core
conversation triggers.


PAGE 7

CASE STUDIES: WINE
Shares: 502 | Views: 66,100


Internet
culture

General


SLO Down Wines: #GoesGreatWith (May 2013)
Historically wine brands don’t tend to have many viral hits. This is largely because
they simply don’t include the right viral conversation triggers that get people talking
and sharing. But small Californian winemaker, SLO down wines, bucked the
industry trend of stuffy, elitist ads, with a rather unusual approach to wine parings!
Featuring Brendon Allen, the spokesman for SLO Down Wines, the brand released
a series of ads exploring a range of suggestive wine pairings including threesomes,
bongs, and sadomasochism!

#Wins

• The WTF nature of the campaign was a clever way for a small and relatively

unheard of brand to capture the attention of the internet and set itself aside from its
competitors.

• A quick look at the company website makes it clear that the brand is clearly

positioning itself as a young, quirky and humourous company which makes a
refreshing change for a wine manufacturer.

#Fails

• The brand video was only uploaded to Vimeo, which tends to have lower

engagement rates than YouTube. Despite scoring relatively highly for conversation
triggers, the share ratio would probably have been higher if the video had been
accessible to a wider audience.

PAGE 8

ALCOHOL VERTICAL SNAP SHOT - BEER AND LAGER
Video

Viral Stats

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Conversation Triggers

Heineken - The Candidate
Shares - 374,513 | Views - 5,224,317

Budweiser - The Clydesdales: "Brotherhood"
Shares - 8,444 | Views - 388,992 *
*The original video got over 1 million shares but is now set to private

Molson Canadian - The Beer Fridge
Shares - 31,712 | Views - 19,73,340

Guinness - Clock
Shares - 42,309 | Views - 1,156,315

Maccabee Beer - TastyTasty


Shares - 6,003 | Views - 1,067,030
PAGE 9

ALCOHOL VERTICAL SNAP SHOT - SPIRITS
Video

Viral Stats



Johnnie Walker - From the Future
Shares - 3,319 | Views - 95,867

Smirnoff Ice - ‘Straight Primpin’
Shares - 435 | Views - 416,164

Wild Turkey Bourbon - #Nevertamed
Shares - 366 | Views - 59,120

Cruzan Rum - Welcome to The Don't Hurry
Shares - 16,521 | Views - 8,853,266

Captain Morgan - For Gold and Glory


Shares - 1062 | Views - 1,207,105

PAGE 10

BRAND TRENDS: SOFT DRINKS
Key brand observations
The long story...
It’s not just alcohol brands seeking to align themselves with consumer lifestyle
choices; soft drinks companies are placing increasing importance on the production
of compelling content to create a story that their audience actively wants to be a
part of.
The success of Red Bull’s Stratos Jump and subsequent adrenaline-fueled videos
underlines a broad cultural shift in viral marketing strategies, with brands focusing
on specific communities of interest in order to associate themselves with a target
demographic. In Red Bull’s case, the brand is appealing to sporting communities by
showcasing the kind of talent that viewers aspire to and creating something
remarkable that people want to share.
In an effort to increase audience engagement with brands, there has also been a
rise in the use of experiential marketing strategies in the soft drinks sector, with the
likes of Coca-Cola and Pepsi being just a few to launch big budget public stunts
and pranks designed to get viewers talking about and sharing their content online.

Source Flickr: Tambako the Jaguar

Celebrity endorsement is another common theme, especially in the advertising of
soft drinks brands which largely target the 16-34 year old demographic who have a
strong affinity to music and pop culture.

PAGE 11

CASE STUDIES: SOFT DRINKS
Shares: 938,869 | Views: 39,485,765


Pepsi: Test Drive (Mar 2013)
Pepsi teamed up with NASCAR driver, Jeff Gordon, to give an unsuspecting car
salesman the test-drive of his life. Disguised as a would-be customer, Gordon took the
salesman out for a vomit inducing spin, leaving him clinging to his passenger seat for
dear life. The whole stunt was captured on a series of hidden cameras inside the car.

#Wins:

• The best viral ratios always come from clips that provoke a strong emotional response

in a viewer; anything from laughter to shock and disbelief, and filming people’s reactions
to public stunts is a clever way to tick some of those boxes. The salesman’s hilarious
reaction to the stunt provided some powerful sharing triggers and got people thinking
about how they would have reacted in that situation.

Auto

Internet
culture


Sports

#Fails:

• Unfortunately the elaborate prank was actually a fake. The fact that the salesman’s

emotional reaction wasn’t genuine took some of the comedy impact away from the
video. Nevertheless, the interweb loves the chance to go on a bit of a detective mission
and the real or fake debate actually worked in the brand’s favour for a while by fueling
conversations around the ad.


PAGE 12

Shares: 1342838 | Views: 65,923,076


Evian: Baby and Me (April 2013)
Evian continued its long running ‘Live Young’ campaign, following on from the huge
success of “Waterbabies” and the viral smash hit, “Rollerbabies”, with Baby & Me. The
video featured a group of adults dancing with miniature versions of their younger selves
in the side of a mirrored building to a catchy remix of “Here Comes the Hotstepper”.
It’s always interesting to see brands developing trademark styles across their marketing.
It can be a great way for agencies to build a repertoir that makes their ads instantly
recognisable and develop a fan base of viewers looking for the next installment in a
campaign..


#Wins:
Music

Pop
culture

Parenting


Internet
culture

• Cute babies always score highly on the list of viral triggers. Cute babies dancing to a
catchy pop song is even better. Throw in the quirky element of adults grooving with
miniature versions of their younger selves and you’ve got some powerful conversation
starters.

#Fails:
• In addition to it’s TV and online ads, Evian expanded the reach of the campaign by

developing a free “Baby & Me” app for Facebook, Android, and iPhone that uses
advanced facial recognition software to reveal the user’s baby face. However the app
wasn’t available until over a month after the campaign launched and the hype had died
down, reducing the impact it might otherwise have had.

PAGE 13

Shares: 251,774 | Views: 10,837,268


Pop
culture


Red Bull teamed up with bike stuntman, Danny MacAskill, to create another another
adrenaline-fueled video. The 7-minute short film featured MacAskill performing
acrobatic stunts on giant versions of his old childhood toys; from comic books, to
army tanks and decks of cards.
Like most of Red Bull’s online video content, this latest ad contains no direct
reference to the soft drink itself (with the exception of a branded helmet). The
emphasis is on associating the brand with adventure, showcasing the kind of talent
that viewers aspire to and actively want to be a part of.

Sports

Red Bull: Danny MacAskill's Imaginate (June 2013)

Internet
culture

#Wins

•MacAskill already has a sizeable following on YouTube and Red Bull managed to
tap into his existing fan base by featuring him in the video.

•The action scored highly for talent on TubeRank appealing to biking and sports
communities, increasing the likelihood of people talking about and sharing the
video.

•The novelty factor of the giant toys created a sense of childhood nostalgia,
creating another reason for people to talk about the campaign.


PAGE 14

SOFT DRINKS VERTICAL SNAP SHOT
Video

Viral Stats



Pepsi: Beyoncé "Mirrors"
Shares - 92,098 | Views - 12,523,732

Coca-Cola: Small World Machines
Shares - 91,415 | Views - 2,320,197

IRN-BRU: Mum
Shares - 23,564 | Views - 1,682,751

Red Bull: Mad Mike drifting Crown Range
Shares - 62,084 | Views - 2,407228

Coca-Cola: Unlock the 007 in you
Shares - 359,209 | Views - 10,643,115


PAGE 15

UGC TRENDS: SOFT DRINKS AND ALCOHOL
Key UGC observations
What can brands learn from the success of home made video hits?
Brands can learn a lot about consumer interests by paying attention
to what’s trending on YouTube.
As part of our weekly research for The Drum Viral Video Chart, our
team scrapes data from across the internet to pull together a top-10
rundown of the most popular UGC videos from the previous 7 days.
As with the Food and Confectionary sector, the readily available
nature of soft drinks and alcohol make them perfect ingredients for
comedy stunts and culinary experiments…. What happens when you
mix a pack of Mentos mints with a can of Coke? How about when you
drink a Red Bull and milk cocktail? Or if you turn a bottle of fizzy pop
into an explosive rocket? Rest assured, all these questions and more
have been answered by YouTubers already!
We used TubeRank to break down the key conversation triggers of
some of the most popular alcohol and soft drinks UGC clips of 2013,
to help marketers get a better grip on popular trends when planning
their ad campaigns.

PAGE 16

TRENDING UGC VIDEOS - SOFT DRINKS & ALCOHOL
Comediva: Beer of Thrones (Game of
Thrones Parody)

BuzzFeedFood: How To Open A Beer
Bottle Without Touching It

Milonak Grupa: Gangnam Style Parody
(VODKA STYLE)

The Sounds of AHH by Kurt Hugo
Schneider & Kevin Olu

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Shares: 11,163 | Views: 529,313

Shares: 22,954 | Views: 2,883,786

Shares: 9,404 | Views: 1,837,652

Shares: 1,298 | Views: 86,174





HowToBasic: How To Make Coke

Grant Thompson: Self Freezing Coke

Skippy62able: Redbull and Milk
Challenge

Slow Motion Coke Rocket - Geek Week

Shares: 7,829 | Views: 2,433,595

Shares: 37,525 | Views: 4,987,672

Shares: 3,675 | Views: 1,198,392

Shares: 1,202 | Views: 219,255






PAGE 17

YOUTUBE - POPULAR SOFT DRINKS & ALCOHOL YOUTUBE CHANNELS
Vertical

Channel

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IIIIIIIIIIIII
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IIIIIIIIIIIII

Stats

Description

Will It Blend?
Subscribers:
645,675
Views:
227,597,880

Blendtec’s official YouTube channel. A series of viral infomercials testing
the strength of the blades by turning various unusual objects into
‘smoothies’, including smart phone, iPads and car parts.

Brewing TV
Subscribers:
16,911
Views:
972,336

Brewing TV's mission is to cover the world of home brewing through the
magic of video.

The Wine Guy
Subscribers:
1,947
Views:
44,266

A dedicated wine channel featuring introductory lessons on how to select,
smell and taste wine, as well expert news and reviews of wines from
around the world.

Beer Geek Nation
Subscribers:
15,083
Views:
1,752,859


Craft beer video reviews for the beer geek in all of us.

PAGE 18

TOP SOFT DRINKS AND ALCOHOL BLOGS
12 Bottle Bar

Travels With Beer

The Boys Club

Five O'Clock Cocktails

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII




Gastronomista

The Thirsty Wench

Guys Drinking Beer

Jameson Fink





An art and design blog focused on the
culture of food and drink.

A geek girl’s blog about beer, breweries and
bastard cats.

Journalists covering the world of craft beers.

Food and wine writer, blogger, social
media marketer, and wine professional.

Classic cocktail recipes, reviews of cocktail
books and products, and interviews with
some of the cocktail world’s luminaries.

Photographer and beer aficionado, Robert
Gale, travels the world in search of great
beer adventures.


Comprehensive alcohol appreciation blog,
everything you need to know about beer,
wine, spirits and mixology.

The Five O’Clock Cocktail Blog serves up
cocktail recipes five days a week at 5 pm

PAGE 19

TWITTER - POPULAR SOFT DRINKS & ALCOHOL INFLUENCERS
Beer Advocate
@BeerAdvocate

Followers:
412,079

Beer tweets by @JasonAlstrom @ToddAlstrom, BeerAdvocate
founders, hardcore champions of craft beer + brewing. Respect
#Beer.

BarChick
@HotBarChick

Followers:
12,340

Like Goose, a great wingman. Writing about the best bars in the
world.

Joe Cross
@JoetheJuicer

Followers:
67,260

Joe Cross is a documentary film maker, health advocate and fruit
and vegetable fan. lose weight and get healthy the simple way.

GinMonkey
@GinMonkeyUK

Followers:
10,240

Independent & impartial cocktail bar reviews & other musings.

Beer47
@beer47

Followers:
47,832

Reviews, news, and more about beer, home brewing, beer events,
and cooking with beer.

Drink Spirits
@drinkspirits

Followers:
11,991

Drink Spirits helps you figure out what to drink next with spirit
articles, reviews and interviews.

All About Beer
@allaboutbeer

Followers:
42,107

Celebrating the world of beer culture.


PAGE 20

A BIT MORE ABOUT VAN
VAN is a social video platform, providing technology and services to agencies and brands to create awesome shareable video. Our
platform is used by leading agencies and brands across the world, and was created by the founders of award-winning viral agency
Rubber Republic.
To find out more about VAN’s work, read this Forbes review, visit www.JoinVAN.com, or try one of our products:

#KITTENCAMP
VIRAL AD NETWORK

TUBERANK

We offer a range of tools to help
individuals and teams learn the art of
social video. Our regular
#KittenCamp events, agency training
workshops & online tutorials can
help you build your knowledge (and
have a LOL too).

Our TubeRank app provides a model
to help you plan a successful (and
shareable) social video. VAN also
provides insight in the form of trend
analysis and benchmarking data for
specific online communities /
verticals.

Book your ticket for our next event

Explore TubeRank


CREATORS NETWORK

VIRAL AD NETWORK

We provide a platform for the
commissioning of social video with
VAN’s Creator Network. The network
consists of a selection of handpicked
video producers, YouTubers and
web publishers; and allows a range
of social video collaboration.

Our Viral Ad Network can ensure
your video gets the coverage it
needs. We offer guaranteed views
across our network of over 5,000
publishers. We can also offer
advertorial placements & other
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Distribute your next video with VAN

PAGE 21

Viral Insight: Soft drinks and alcohol marketing trends

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