Bring the Brini
The Brief
F I C K L E FAME
Lambrini is a leading and instantly recognisable UK drinks brand, with annual value sales
of £40million. Despite its fame, the Lambrini brand was experiencing long-term penetration
and sales problems.
Lambrini offers an extremely attractive proposition - the drink is affordable, light (low
alcohol by volume) and delivers great flavour - but getting people to trial the product
presented a challenge. Negative brand image meant new drinkers/consumers were
reluctant to put Lambrini to the test.
Even some current consumers felt the brand had a poor image and Lambrini was seeing
limited brand consideration - 29 per cent versus an average competitor rate of 41 per cent as well as its lowest penetration since 2010.
NEW WAY S TO E N G AG E
Working with Lambrini, BJL was tasked with creating and executing a brand development
extension strategy that would help address all of these challenges.
The agency was asked to support the launch of a new look, contemporary bottle and label
design and help to hero Lambrini’s Strawberry, Peach and Cherry flavours.
Our campaign would meet a clear set of marketing and sales targets, designed to increase
brand awareness, boost the brand’s image and reinvigorate its social acceptability and recruit
a new generation of consumers.
Specifically, we sought to increase customer acquisition by 15 per cent - generating 3,000
new sign ups to the Lambrini database of younger consumers (aged between 18 and 25) - all
to create long-term commercial success. Ultimately, the campaign was designed to address
Lambrini’s overall decline and put the brand back in growth.
The Strategy
The highly creative but commercially-driven Bring the Brini campaign was created to meet
the challenges posed by Lambrini’s unique nature and market position.
It used detailed planning and rigorous consumer insight to develop a clear, well-targeted,
brand development and extension strategy, delivered across a wide range of channels to
relevant audiences.
It introduced the re-developed brand, showcasing a brand platform that encouraged
consumers to Bring the Brini, and engaged with a new audience.
UNLO CKI NG B RAN D PE RC E PT I O N S
Working with Lambrini, BJL undertook extensive research to detail the entire consumer
journey - looking for key pain points along the way.
The team were keen to find out more about wider brand awareness and perceptions and
use these to inform strategic development of the brand.
CELEBR AT I ON S AN D S I S T E RH O O D
Two key insights helped inform the extension of the brand: looking at how and when Lambrini
was being enjoyed and who was enjoying it.
Research revealed Lambrini was being shared between friends in a more everyday capacity
(rather than as part of ‘a big night in’) so we wanted to use this to develop a brand and
extension that recognised that.
The concept of female solidarity was important here too. Research revealed a strong
‘sisterhood’ between Lambrini drinkers - a tight and supportive network of female friends.
We wanted to engage with this audience and position Lambrini as the brand that celebrated
these relationships.
The Campaign
J OY F U L S AM PL I N G
Sampling was also at the heart of the strategy - we wanted to get Lambrini into the hands of
as many relevant people as possible.
This was achieved via a National Bring the Brini Tour, centring on six UK cities. Successful
partnerships with retailer JOY, hairdressers’ Toni and Guy, The Clothes Show Live and Girls’
Day Out events allowing us to reach the key, 18-25-year-old acquisition audience.
KEY TO U C H PO IN T S
The campaign included a brand new website and social media overhaul, TLC channel
and a 1 x 20” TV advert on SKY channels, pre-rolls (20” TV ad) and digital support
To showcase and amplify the campaign - and introduce a new bottle design - we
launched a four-month TV partnership with TLC channel and SKY, supported by POS,
trade PR and social media
We created a TLC and Lambrini online hub featuring content, quizzes competitions
and information
Social media campaigns, competitions and advertising were all used to underline
brand extension and development, including ‘Brini Knows How’ videos, backed by
trade adverts and POS information
A nationwide Bring the Brini sampling tour and partnerships hero-ed new flavours
and created conversions
We created a series of TV adverts
to promote our new brand messaging
and showcase product. Broadcast
across all channels, each used the
same four ‘Brini Girls’ and celebrated
their friendship networks and were
followed by Christmas advertising.
The Results
SO ME FIRS T S …
The campaign represented something truly new and innovative for the brand.
Bring the Brini was Lambrini’s first truly integrated campaign, working across all channels
including social media to engage with their younger audience.
Focussing on fruit, rather than the Original flavours, was another first - extending the brand’s
reach by hero-ing product the audience would love.
EX T EN D IN G RE AC H
Our brand development and extension strategy helped the brand use a broader product
range - with flavours taking a more central role - to reach a wider, younger and previously
untouched audience.
A BI G S O C IAL I M PAC T
Bring the Brini was a huge social media success - engaging with consumers on the channels
where they feel comfortable and driving real-life action and consumption.
The campaign became a Twitter talking point with the total number of mentions for
#BringtheBrini reaching 12,000.
Total impressions for Lambrini were 71.5 million, with 467k seen daily, and total impressions
for #BringTheBrini are at 3.36 million, with 22k seen daily.
STA ND O U T RE S U LT S
The campaign was highly successful. The brand enjoyed an immediate change in fortunes as
a direct result of the 2015 activity. Nielsen data shows increases in value sales across the
portfolio, which is supported by Kantar data that reveals the numbers of new shoppers the
activity has attracted.
Less than a year in, and the campaign has delivered growth across the portfolio of SKUs:
• Value sales of Lambrini Original (75cl) are up by 4.9% (91,420 additional buyers).
• Value sales of Lambrini Original (150cl) are up by 22% (188,427 additional buyers).
• Value sales of Lambrini Fruit variants are up by 23% (108,909 additional buyers).
Overall, the campaign has changed the brand’s sales trajectory from one of stagnation
to one of renewed growth.
Specific campaign measures show how the activity is driving brand and product
consideration. For example, consideration for Lambrini Original has risen from 29% to 34%.
60% of people who saw our adverts claimed that were prompted to take positive action
(including 23% who claimed to have bought product) or think more favourably about the
brand (Source: Mediacom tracking debrief).