Objective:
We were tasked with launching Aperol in the US market.
Strategy:
The Aperol Spritz is one of Italy's most popular cocktails, but is recently launched in America and has low awareness. New to market, we decided to tap into the current cultural obsession of brunch and position Aperol as the perfect brunch drink.
Idea:
We decided not to create a traditional ad campaign, but rather a movement that young people fought to be part of. We founded the Aperol Brunch Society and created the ultimate summer job that no brunching influencer could resist: Chief Brunch Officer—a job that included brunching with friends, tasting Aperol Spritzes, and spreading the gospel of the beauty of brunch. Consumers learned about this awesome job through a single viral job description posting.
How did one get the honor of being Chief Brunch Officer? By uploading an Instagram video explaining why their credentials and the hashtag #AperolBrunchSociety. Amazing content was uploaded to Instagram by influencers across the country—-some even begging Aperol to bring the Brunch Society to their city. The best applicants were interviewed and ultimately hired.
Instead of buying influencers' recommendations, we made sure we had authentic brunch lovers acting as our brand spokespeople.
The campaign has seen incredible results on all fronts. Old and new Aperol lovers, bloggers and influencers from all over America created films that expressed their passion for Aperol and for brunching. Engagement on Facebook tripled (from 3% to 9%). Our social community grew by 139%. Cities that weren't a part of it begged to be, and local news stations ran stories about it. Our digital community had a direct impact on consumer purchasing patterns: Sales of Aperol increase 25%-45% in our four target markets Best of all, food blogs across the country declared Aperol the official drink of brunch and we garnered more than 200 million media impressions. Fox News even went so far as to say that the mimosa was dead. RIP Mimosa.