• by Aaron Baar , November 10, 2010

"There's a lot of consumers who believe it's a cream-based product, but it really isn't," Andrew Nash, brand director for Kahlua, tells Marketing Daily. "Also, about one-third of them thought it was from Hawaii."

The Pernod-Ricard brand is stressing its Mexican heritage and coffee and sugar cane roots in a new advertising campaign highlighting the brand as "muy delicioso." The effort from TBWA/Chiat/Day, moves away from the Mayan and Incan element of previous campaigns to one with a lighter touch that emphasizes the product's Veracruz origins and drinks that don't require a cream-based mixer.

"Before, everything was centered on exotic and dark and mysterious," Nash says. "What we have now is lighter and brighter. We're taking the brand back to its roots."

Television commercials in the campaign feature Mexican actress Ana de la Reguera, who was born in Veracruz, talking about the state and its personality. "Here in Veracruz, Mexico," she says directly to the camera in one spot, "we combine things that you don't expect to go together, like the dark coffee, but light spirit in Kahlua."

Other examples include a couch in a sugar cane field, an older farmhand wearing a long blond toupee and a radio that doubles as a toaster. Another spot features the actress talking about the way the Spanish language makes everyday items (a stapler, shoes) seem more exotic. She concludes the spot by correcting an American who cites Kahlua as "delicious." "Delicioso," she says.

"The whole campaign is built around 'delicioso'," says Nash. "It's been on the bottle for the longest time. We've built a whole world around it."

Print executions feature the Kahlua bottle and Kahlua cocktails with the word "Delicioso." They also feature cocktails that move away from the oft-considered Kahlua and Cream to things such as the Perfect Serve (Kahlua over rocks, with orange zest), Black Russian (Kahlua and Vodka) and Espresso Martini (Kahlua, Vodka and Espresso).

Television spots will run on The Food Network, HGTV, TLC, TBS and the USA Network, while print will run in magazines such as Cosmopolitan, InStyle, People, GQ and Esquire. The campaign will also feature out-of-home elements, a redesigned web site and an iPhone app.