The White Claw fans may well be the most engaged of any beverage in the world. They’ve created entire sub-culture around the brand. Through their social feeds, selfies, hashtags and memes, fans have generated over 4 billion impressions and 46 times more social media mentions than competing brands. The fan-generated content shows that pure, uncomplicated fun can happen in so many different ways, places, times, moments, occasions. And that White Claw is the shortcut to all of it.
Rothco, which was behind the initial launch of the brand in America in 2016 and the UK and ROI launch last June, realised that this ardent fandom was a golden asset for the hard seltzer brand to use in its first ever global campaign.
To make its campaign, Let’s White Claw, Rothco collaborated with a diverse group of creators from around the world to capture unscripted, in-the-moment scenarios. For the first phase, Rothco enlisted LA-based directors, Wolfgang and Brit Phelan, with more creators already working on new scenarios to keep content fresh and relevant to local markets.
Brit Phelan stated, “This campaign has truly been a collaboration. I was thrilled to work with the team at White Claw who, from the beginning, valued my creative input and gave me a ton of freedom in how to represent each moment we captured on film. Each of the films we made together is pulled from my own life experiences, so to see them on screen evoking the same emotion I felt at the time is really rewarding as a director.”
The result is a huge suite of content featuring hundreds of different moments, improvised by the creators themselves – starring real people, in real locations. All elements of the campaign, down to music created for the campaign by up-and-coming artists, were created specifically to match the feeling in each piece of content.
And, the agency notes, this is just the beginning. Throughout the year White Claw will partner with new creators to refresh content, so that no matter where or when consumers are enjoying White Claw, there is always an open invitation to enjoy pure, uncomplicated fun.
Davin Nugent, chief executive officer of White Claw parent, Mark Anthony Brands International, commented, “Let’s White Claw is the first in a series of milestones for White Claw. Since its launch in 2016, White Claw has been embraced by our consumers at a level we never imagined. This campaign is designed for them. White Claw fans are some of the most engaged of any brand in the world, creating an entire sub-culture around the product. Having seen the phenomenal engagement globally with the White Claw brand, we’re excited to not only launch our campaign in new markets, but also our brand and our products, in what is set to be our biggest year yet.”
Miriam Hendrick, managing partner at Rothco, part of Accenture Interactive adds: “The thing that made the most difference with this process is trust. We had to trust our instincts that the Let’s White Claw platform was going to reinforce the love the fans have for the brand. We had to trust the creators on the other side of the world were going to capture the moments in a way that felt like real, uncomplicated fun you wanted to be part of. Then ultimately, our clients had to trust a process with a lot more freedom than any of us were used to. And we couldn’t be happier with how it’s turned out.”
Jen Speirs, executive creative director at Rothco, added, “After the last year, there’s never been a better time for White Claw to storm into the world and make an emotional connection with people, and Let’s White Claw does exactly that. It reinforces what people already know and love about the brand – and shows up in new ways that make them and new people, know and love it even more.”
