• by Les Luchter , March 10, 2022

Perhaps it’s time for a vacation in Italy -- or at least the taste of one.

Peroni, Molson Coors’ Italian import beer, on Monday will launch its first major consumer lifestyle campaign since the start of the pandemic with “Live Every Moment,” shot on location in the picturesque village of Positano on Italy’s Amalfi Coast. A corresponding sweepstakes will award $20,000 to one lucky winner, which Peroni hopes will be used for a personal trip to that very locale.

A :30 TV spot of Italians enjoying a summer day drinking Peroni during al fresco gatherings will run over network affiliates in New York, Miami and Los Angeles. On a wider scale, the campaign also includes streaming and online video, paid and organic social, influencer marketing, out-of-home, and both on-premise and off-premise retail. 

“’Live Every Moment’ is not just our new creative campaign but our new brand platform, which will inform how the brand shows up across channels for the foreseeable future,” Cara Lauritzen, senior marketing manager for Peroni, told Marketing Daily.

The target audience, she said, consists of “style discerners ages 25-39 who are looking to live every moment to the fullest.” Peroni hopes that they’ll “view the brand as one that helps elevate life’s everyday moments while transporting them to summer on the Amalfi coast with every sip of its refreshing birra,” Lauritzen added.

The creative agency for “Live Every Moment” is TroubleMaker UK, the key visual (shown above) is driven by PR agency Multiply, and earned media efforts are handled by both Multiply and digital agency Connect.

The sweepstakes, which in addition to the $20,000 grand prize, will award 50 prizes of $165 (for a “passport upgrade”) and 500 prizes of $10 (for six-packs), is administered by Prize Logic.

While “Live Every Moment” represents a return to major lifestyle marketing for Peroni, the brand has hardly been silent during the past two years.

A “Walk With Us” campaign, for example, was designed to provide hope and optimism during COVID by reminding people of such life-enjoying moments as takings walks with friends. Other recent marketing programs include a partnership with celebrity chef Antoni Porowski tied to holiday hosting, and a collaboration with Italian leather shoe and accessory brand M.Gemi  for a birra-inspired sneaker.

Peroni has become a strong player in Molson Coors’ push for what it terms “above-premium” beverages, with company president/CEO Gavin Hattersley citing the brand’s double-digit 2021 growth during an earnings call last month.

So far in 2022, Peroni cites IRI multi-outlet and convenience data showing that its dollar sales have increased 9% “while the remainder of the category has fallen.”

The brand’s main competitors in the U.S. market are Heineken and Anheuser-Busch’s Stella Artois, according to Molson Coors’ “Beer & Beyond” blog. While Peroni’s sales velocity rose 27.9% in 2021, the blog reported, Heineken’s dove some 20% and Stella grew 3.4%.

Launched in the U.S. in 2005, Peroni’s first major ad campaign ran just three years ago.