Publicis realizes the overall appearance for the new Calanda Glatsch
"Glatsch" is the name of the new beer in the Calanda range. The entire brand identity, including a large-scale launch campaign, was created by Publicis. Werbewoche spoke to those responsible.
Contrary to the general brewery trend of launching full-bodied craft beers with sophisticated flavors, Calanda sees potential in a different market field. "The starting point of our work was a real insight, based on Calanda's market research," says Matthias Koller, Managing Director of Publicis Switzerland. "This showed: there is a customer need for a beer with a fresh taste."
The results from the market research were translated into reality by Calanda's production department, which developed a mild, drinkable beer with little bitterness. The desired freshness is achieved, among other things, by colder maturation storage at minus 3.5 degrees.
With the "raw product", the Bündner Brauerei and the parent company Heineken came to the agency. "The fact that a client like Heineken commissioned us to define a brand from virtually scratch is quite remarkable," says Publicis CEO Thomas Wildberger. Normally, they would be presented with a finished product - in some cases already provided with an international strategy. "In this case, however - except for the mix - everything ended up in our hands. From the agency's point of view, it was an extremely exciting task to create not only the campaign for once, but also everything beforehand."
The result was the name "Glatsch", which in Rhaeto-Romanic is the basic form for everything that has to do with ice and glaciers. A name that fits the beer and the Calanda brand like a glove.
The ice cream theme continues consistently. Starting with the packaging design, which, with a high proportion of white and the striking color light blue on the beer shelf, conveys coolness and freshness at first glance. As an additional special feature, a thermoprint snowflake indicates whether the beer is at the ideal temperature. It only becomes visible in light blue when the Glatsch is cold enough.
Despite the striking color scheme, the design joins the recently redesigned Calanda beer family, providing a consistent look for the brand. "The ambition was not to make "something wild," a side product," Wildberger explains. "The product should not represent an exotic on the shelf, but rather fit harmoniously into the rest of the range - even though Calanda's colors are otherwise more yellow and red."
The plan is for Glatsch to become a permanent part of Calanda's beer product range. Even if, as with every new launch, this decision will ultimately be made by the market. The decisive factor will not least be sales at Coop. "When it comes to alcohol, Coop plays a decisive role in Switzerland," says Koller.
However, according to initial feedback, the chances of the product remaining in the range in the long term are good. "The initial sales figures and the feedback from social media point to a great success," says Koller optimistically.
Survive the summer
The broad-based launch campaign seamlessly picks up on the beer's refreshing DNA and shows with a wink what it's like to survive in Graubünden when it's not winter: summer. The two protagonists of the numerous short spots sit on a bench and comment stone-dry and in the best Grisons dialect on the unloved season. While the rest of Switzerland is looking forward to swimming and barbecues, the next cold front can't come soon enough from the point of view of the two Graubünden natives. Until then, Glatsch helps to keep the temperature at a bearable level, even for cool Graubünden minds.
"The challenge for the creation was not to get caught up in things that annoy everyone about summer anyway - mosquito bites or a sunburn, for example," Matthias Koller recalls.
The 18 spots were shot within two days. "For two days of shooting, an incredible amount of moving image came together," says Koller. "And even more important than the quantity, it all pays off in terms of the product benefit: freshness." Such an output in such a short time is only possible if production, agency, client and director form an extremely good team, he is convinced.
The film was directed by feature film director Simon Verhoeven - recently the recipient of several awards for the crowd-pleasing "Welcome to the Hartmanns" and rich in comedy experience. "He knew exactly what we wanted; knew the brand and immediately understood the tonality we were aiming for," says Koller in praise of the German filmmaker, who had already worked for Calanda and Publicis on last year's Europa League campaign.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=/56BuBv9NNMA
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The customer - a pleasant king
The customer Calanda also made a decisive contribution to the success, Koller emphasizes: "The Calanda representatives contributed productively on the set, but otherwise kept a low profile and listened to the people who had the most expertise in each case. That's not at all a matter of course and rarely happens in this cooperative and collaborative way: "When the director and the CD say, 'This take is it,' many customers want to do another one. And another. Ten takes later, they finally take the one from the beginning.
In general, a lot of things went more than according to plan during the shoot. One example: the perfect pack shot - achieved after just a few attempts. A drop of condensation ideally detaches itself from the cold can, moves downward - while at the same moment a bird flies through the picture in the background. "A huge coincidence," Wildberger laughs. "The viewers probably won't even notice the bird, but for us it's great!"
The campaign, launched at the beginning of May, will be played across all channels and adapted to the respective formats. For example, six-second pre-rolls - which are unskippable on YouTube - were shot and placed specifically before summer clips. If you search for topics such as open-air festivals, barbecues or water sports, a suitable commentary by the two edgy summer muffins is played before the actual video. Do you really want to go to the open air in this heat?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=/nCWjpUcDXmU
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Facebook also plays an important role. Calanda can count on a loyal, active fan community on the social network, which will be involved several times during the campaign. Various anti-summer initiatives are planned, the course of which is still completely open depending on the level of participation. The corresponding spots were often shot in one take and contain improvisations by the two actors. For good reason, as Thomas Wildberger explains: "Everything has to look authentic - not like advertising.
The campaign, launched in May, will run through September of this year.
Thomas Häusermann
Responsible at Calanda: Christian Weise (Marketing Director), Sami Ackermann (Brand Manager), Caroline Senn (Junior Brand Manager). Responsible at Publicis: Thomas Wildberger (CEO/CCO), Peter Brönnimann (CD), David Lübke, Johannes Raggio (Text), Michael Brauchli (Head of Art), Lorenz Clormann (CD Product Design), Marvin Hugentobler, Andrea Klainguti (AD), Dominik Locher (Graphics), Matthias Koller (Managing Director), Angelos Apostolidis, Claudia Ziltener (Consulting), Cem van der Schaar (FFF).Responsible for production: CZAR Berlin (film production), Simon Verhoeven (director), Christian Rein (camera), Thorne Mutert, Boerge Hesemann, Anna Schulz (producer), sound (Jingle Jungle).
