Kordaat

Supermarket Lidl launches its own premium beer brand: ‘Kordaat'. That’s what you are, that’s what you drink.’ A beer for stout-hearted men that shakes up the Dutch beer market.

Creative Idea:
‘Kordaat. That’s what you are, that’s what you drink.’ We see different men being honored like true heroes, in an epic way, while getting some relatively simple ‘male chores’ done in and around the house. Afterwards they are quite proud of themselves and drink a well-deserved glass of Kordaat. We are showing our self-mocking positioning quite literally. But without become estranged from the premium category. Many elements of the ‘classic’ beer-positioning are there. We just take those elements to the point where the the brand is making fun of itself.

Campaign rollout:
Kordaat was introduced in a three week burst campaign. We didn’t have a premium brand budget, so that was the way to create a big reach.

To tell the main brand story we used TVC and OLV, Special Outdoor and cinema. At the same time we created online videos of stout-hearted women enjoying a glass of Kordaat. To push our relativizing take on the age-old beer-positioning even further. The reach of the campaign is widened with OOH, TV-Billboarding, print and display.

Kordaat goes into a premium-brand-worthy collaboration with Fox Sports. We see glasses of Kordaat in their soccer show. For a social kickstart, Kordaat is launched during a big PR-event to proof to influencers and journalists that this beer taste as good as they’d expect from a Dutch brew.

And we didn’t mention Lidl anywhere. Kordaat has to stand on its own two feet. Only on the Kordaat website we revealed where it’s available.

Additional

The campaign established Kordaat: Campaign awareness was 31%: higher than every other Dutch premium brand except for Heineken. The brand awareness after only three weeks was 78%. Higher than any supermarket-beer brand.

The commercial results were unprecedented: There was a huge sales boost, without cannibalizing on the existing Lidl house brands. 23% growth for Lidl in the beer market. An unprecedented growth result for any retailer.

Insight:
For a supermarket it’s all about people who drink a beer at home. And 80% of that beer volume is being enjoyed by men. So that is our most important target. This might seem like an obvious focus, beer brands have tried to win over ‘the man’ for years now. But not a single big Dutch premium beer brand is focusing on that domain at the moment. It’s wide open right now. And by having Lidl’s brand new premium beer claim the open domain beer-is-for-real-men, we can speak the familiar language of the category and still stand out.

Strategy:
‘Kordaat. Beer for stout-hearted man.’ (Kordaat means brisk or stout-hearted.) The beer-is-for-real-men domain is wide open. But we do have to give it our own twist. The answer to solving our communication challenge and finding that balance, lies in the current zeitgeist. The time for campaigns separating the sexes into stereotypes is long gone. And we have to be sensitive to the social climate. That’s why we’ll make an old school ‘beer-for-real-man’ brand and campaign, but with an extra, extra big side serving of self-mockery. A relativizing take on the age-old beer domain. We’re positioning ourselves as a beer especially for ‘stout-hearted’ men. Men who really deserve their beer at the end of the day. Which of course means: all men. Because let’s be honest, it doesn’t take that much for a man to think of himself as just that. Especially if there’s a reward in the form of a tasty beer involved.

Why:
Lidl only sells its own brands. But Dutch beer drinkers prefer beer from one of the famous Dutch breweries. So those shoppers also head over to the competing supermarket to get their crate.

This means Lidl misses out on revenue. But on top of that, discounts on beer are a way for supermarkets to get new customers into their store. So indirectly this also affects Lidl’s overall traffic.

How can we keep customers in our store, when they’re looking for a premium Dutch beer? Lidl choses a bold strategy: it will launch its own premium brand of Dutch beer.

Interpretation of the problem:
The strategy and creative idea have to establish this new brand as one of the big boys. We have to become part of the Dutch beer establishment, and we have to do that fast. The supermarket has no interest in slowly building the brand over the course of months or even years. And on top of that we don’t have the budgets premium brands do. So if we compress our efforts, we can establish a big reach.

All of this means we’ll need to build a brand that immediately speaks the familiar language of the category. We want to become one of the well-known established brands, not a disruptive player for a ‘new’ market of beer drinkers. But we can’t adept the language to the point where we become generic. We do have to stand out and be able to stand on our own two feet. Finding the right balance is key to developing a brand strategy and creative idea that can establish this new brand.

JURY FEEDBACK

STRATEGY / BRONZE

Sometimes the most obvious strategy deserves an award because when the whole category has abandoned its sweet spot, it takes courage to just go there.