How Alcohol Brands’ Holiday Advertising Adjusted in 2020

In a normal year, the festive season is a time for brands in the alcoholic drinks sector to show off their advertising creativity. Indeed, many brands put out campaigns with different intentions, from introducing a new strategic direction to spicing up a conventional idea.

However, as Ajab Samrai and his BLITZWORKS co-founders know, the reality of the pandemic in 2020 meant that alcohol brands had to be creative with their festive season campaigns. Mr Samrai is the Global Chief Creative Officer at the agency, and together, all three founders have experience working with major drinks clients.

Still, some brands managed to show off their creative chops with unique end-year campaigns. John Pallant, BLITZWORKS co-founder, identified a few that caught the eye.

Heineken

Heineken’s ‘Holidays as Usual’ global campaign was the brand’s way of getting people to take comfort in some of the festive season’s traditions and undertake responsible socialising where possible.

While the brand acknowledged that the 2020 holiday season would undoubtedly look different for many people, its campaign touched on trivial annoyances and contrasting opinions that many families can relate to.

While these can be irritating, the brands’ underlying message was that with the crisis changing so much in people’s lives, such moments are invaluable gems to be cherished.

Stella Artois

The beer brand’s ‘Christmas in the Life Artois’ was its first holiday season campaign in five years, and it opted for an animated spot to deliver its message. Whereas extended family and friends gathering together and presents are characteristic of many Christmas celebrations, Stella Artois eschews these conventions and focuses on a nameless couple and their dog sharing a meal and beer.

Stella Artois’s Christmas spot is part of a more extensive, global campaign called The Life Artois, which seeks to encourage people to enjoy life’s pleasures with the people who matter most. For this particular advert, the call was for people to make the most of the Christmas season with whoever they may be with.

Budweiser China

Budweiser reached out to its consumers with a campaign to encourage people to have fun from home. Created by Serviceplan Shanghai, it introduced characters such as ‘Smiley Cat’ and ‘Disco Wolf’ and featured the beer brand’s home party kits with animal paws — a not-so-subtle way of letting people have fun by identifying with their inner party animal.