Summer is definitely lemonade season, and that goes double this year for hard lemonade. Two major lines have entered the category this month: Simply Spiked Lemonade, from Coca-Cola and Molson Coors, and White Claw Hard Seltzer Refrshr Lemonade, from hard seltzer’s dominant brand.
The latter launch makes sense, considering that Jessica Werley, project manager at Datassential, told Marketing Daily that hard lemonade has ridden on the coattails of hard seltzer, “the category that has most transformed the alcoholic beverage space in recent years. Today’s hard lemonades have gotten a refresh in cans instead of bottles, and often feature trendy flavor combinations like blood orange, blackberry, and watermelon."
The other launch also makes sense, since it’s an offshoot of Coke’s Simply, which is simply the number one soft lemonade brand in America.
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Simply Spiked Lemonade has four iterations -- regular, strawberry, blueberry and watermelon -- with its first ad campaign set to blast off soon.
White Claw Hard Seltzer Refrshr Lemonade also has four iterations -- limón with a hint of calamansi, blood orange with a hint of black raspberry, blackberry with a hint of red cherry, and lemonade strawberry with a hint of kiwi – and its ad campaign is already underway from VCCP NY.
The campaign kicked off with a :30 spot featuring black-and-white footage of three innovators in music, fashion and sport: singer/songwriter Jesse Boykins III, wardrobe stylist Ann Marie Hoang and artist/skater Ashley Imani. Music is the Curtis Waters song “Stunnin’.”
Media include connected TV, online video, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and out-of-home through the end of July. Continuing elements after that will include posts on White Claw's owned social channels, sampling at summer festivals, and social campaigns with additional creative innovators.
VCCP NY also handled the product naming and the product line’s packaging design.