Young’s has announced a new ad campaign throughout autumn 2012 to re-engage ale drinkers with the brand and champion a new era of real, quality interactions with friends and family.
Young’s beers are traditionally popular in London and the South East where Young’s Bitter is the No.5 standard cask beer in London and sells faster than the market leader, London Pride.
The new campaign, launching this month, is targeted at 35+-year-old ale drinkers across London and the South East. It builds on the brand’s long-standing association with London and 181 years of tradition for bringing people together in the city through great pubs and great beers, and pulls this heritage into the 21st century with an amusing ad campaign announcing Young’s as “The Original Social Network”.
Poking fun at social media
The ads aim to engage its target market by poking fun at the nation’s obsession with social media. The series of ads, which appear in digital, print and out-of-home media around the capital from 17 September, use witty word play to encourage people to cut out the virtual middle man and get down to their local Young’s pub for real, meaningful social interactions and quality time with their friends over a pint of Young’s.
Messages include: “like, share, chat and genuinely LOL”, and “like, share, chat, but please refrain from writing on our wall”.
Wells and Young’s Commercial Director David Revell explains the drivers behind the campaign:
“The increasingly frantic pace of modern life has led to a social media revolution in the past few years, with many people opting to connect with friends via technology rather than in person.
“However, a summer of Jubilee celebrations and the successful summer of sport have created a real buzz in Great Britain, uniting people with a sense of national pride. This provides a key opportunity to reconnect with our target market to reawaken the quintessential British pastime of meeting friends in the pub, and to put Young’s pubs and beers at the heart of real social networking.”
Running in a station near you…
The adverts will run in National Rail stations in and around London, and at London Underground stations within 500 meters of Young’s Pubs from 17 September to 30 September 2012 to reach Youngs’ target market during their commute. Ads will also appear in Time Out magazine and the Evening Standard’s restaurant and pub section, and will run on each publication’s website from 17 September to 7 October.
The print and digital elements of the campaign are designed to drive readers to a promotional microsite where beer drinkers can find their local Young’s pub and find out more about the range of Young’s beers and a ‘free bar snack’ promotional offer.
The promotional offer connects perfectly to the concept of sharing, rewarding pub goers with a free premium bar snack with the purchase of two pints of Young’s ales: the perfect combination for an informal social occasion.