Why Carlsberg is bringing back ‘If Carlsberg did’ after four years
Carlsberg is bringing back its iconic tagline ‘If Carlsberg did’ after a four year absence following a realisation that the phrase is still part of everyday lexicon, something it will try to own again through the launch of a global brand campaign.
http://youtu.be/00BntiFNeBc?list=PL6VJMu3brvyDGr9AR2ob8apmN-AC6bn44
The brand has launched a TV and online spot created by 72andSunny Amsterdam that brings back the “Probably the best beer in the world” tagline for the first time since 2011 by depicting a Carlsberg supermarket, which is “Probably the best supermarket in the world”, in what the brand sees as an ‘evolution’ of the old campaign.
The tagline was originally used in the 70s and ran in various countries over the following 40 years. In 2011, the brand underwent an “international makeover” and the campaign was pushed aside for the brand’s new marketing platform, “That calls for a Carlsberg”.
The company is now looking to “reinvigorate” the “If Carlsberg did” campaign, which it says lends itself “fantastically” to creative work and has been known to inspire user-generated content, through the ad and a series of online films which were rolled out to visualise a number of scenarios that fit into the humour of the brand.
Allan Solomon, global marketing director for Carlsberg Group, told Marketing Week: “[The tagline] has never really gone away. If you look at consumer generated stuff on Google or Facebook, ‘If Carlsberg did’ has remained a part of consumer language, and we see this as a good opportunity to reintroduce it. It’s always been hugely popular and we’ve had a very positive response to the reintroduction of it.”
The campaign is an effort to encourage consumers to produce their own ‘If Carlsberg did’ content, which Solomon says is something they have done in the past but will grasp even more easily in today’s world.
“‘If Carlsberg did’ has become a meme in its own right, and we want to utilise that,” he says.
It is also an effort for the brand to push the quality and premium positioning of its beer.
“’If Carlsberg did this’ is short hand for being the best,” Solomon says. “We feel that it’s necessary to talk about the quality credentials of the beer but to do so in an interesting, fun and engaging way.
“We’re leaning on insights which show that our target audience has evolved, so we have to change to be more relevant to them,” he adds. “We need to make the campaign modern and ensure our communications are premium, but still use the enjoyable element of intelligent humour.”
The ad will launch in the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark and a number of other global markets, and will be promoted through “much more content” on the brand’s social and digital channels as well as in print.
However, Solomon says the efforts will differ by market.
“The whole nature of ‘If Carlsberg did’ lends itself to so many media channels, but something that may be relevant for YouTube or Instagram in one market may be different in another,” he says.
“We’ve got a lot of other content coming over the next few months and we’re looking forward to generating work ourselves, but also to seeing how consumers use social media channels.”
The company’s latest quarter results in September 2014 showed that the Carlsberg brand had grown by 3% in its premium markets. Full year 2014 results are set to be released on Wednesday (18 February).