While reach was a priority for Grolsch’s new campaign this year, PHD Canada, which helmed its media strategy, decided to pair that goal with the most relevant media channels to engage the quirky brand’s well-to-do, 25-to-34 male demo. These guys, for the most part, are uninvolved in mainstream beer marketing and seek out a brand that fits who they are in a more subtle manner.
With creative handled by Vancouver-based Me&Lewis, the campaign rolled out with magazine and newspaper this month, starting with a Metro Toronto cover wrap last Monday, leading into the Victoria Day long weekend, showcasing the brand’s free-thinking spirit and encouraging consumers to celebrate their own independence. The Metro wrap was followed with full-page and adjacent 1/3 ads for the remainder of the week to ensure top-of-mind awareness for Grolsch prior to the long weekend. Print ads are also appearing within targeted national publications’ May to November issues, starting with Cottage Life and Hockey News.
Outdoor, the campaign includes horizontal posters and trivisions in high traffic areas in Toronto and Vancouver, starting this week and running for two months. And when it’s back-to-school, summer-is-over time, the ads will move indoors, appearing on office tower elevator screens in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton, starting Sept. 7 for six weeks.
‘Many Grolsch bars are located at the base of office towers or in close proximity of office buildings, which coincides with the type of work environment our target consumer is in,’ PHD Canada account manager Vanessa Porter tells MiC. ‘After work they will have it top of mind to grab a Grolsch.’
‘We wanted to utilize more of a sub-influence strategy across a majority of the media channels (where applicable): instead of in-your-face brand ads, we integrated the actual content in order to appear less obvious,’ says Porter. While running brand ads within magazines ensures maximum coverage, the team at PHD also focused on the context for each media channel, such as partnering with Cottage Life on a contest in the June issue which drives consumers online to win summer prize packages. ‘This,’ says Porter, ‘further solidified Grolsch’s association with summer and allowed for further engagement between the brand and consumers.’
The print and OOH media strategy compliments the brand’s online campaign, which launches June 15 and runs for eight weeks, geo-targeting to Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary via news and business sites in the format of interactive big boxes and skyscrapers. Explains Porter: ‘While these consumers are at work, reading the grim news stories of the world today, they will see a fun Grolsch brand ad displayed amongst their news and info content. They can click on each unit and enter in their postal code where they will be directed to the nearest Grolsch pub. After work – they can head out to the nearest bar and grab a Grolsch.’
