The idea was driven by a thirst to join topical conversations and showcase Kronenbourg 1664’s distinctive point of view. Whilst our key premium beer category competitors position themselves within the realms of glamour, aspiration and luxury, our insight showed us the “strivers” target audience (35-49 year old men) are more interested in what is happening in the real world.

The campaign was twofold: awareness driving ATL underpinned by tactical, focused creative delivery in digital. Integral to the campaign was applying the Kronenbourg 1664 point of view to stay front of mind and drive relevance.

In May 2016, our TV advert launched, featuring the "Alsace-tian" dogs of Alsace who bring barrels of Kronenbourg 1664 to the deserving. Our weapon to aim the right message in the right context to the right person: programmatic digital display. Our approach considered three elements to ensure success: precision, agility and action.

Dynamic real-time creative was produced and activated within a custom-built API, hosting both manual and automatic bid strategy optimisation, based on the day’s sporting events.

To ensure our ads were in contextually relevant environments, we targeted beyond default category targeting and employed specific keyword targeting, using publisher 2nd party data and 3rd party technology. Buying inventory programmatically meant we served content matching our audiences’ interests for longer than buying directly, stretching from May to October 2016.

To drive footfall in store, audiences were served a Kronenbourg 1664 offer-focused message, with an expandable dynamic map directing them to their local store within 3000 metres. Tracking these users’ geolocation, we could measure each store’s footfall uplift driven by our media activity.

Our programmatic focus delivered strong gains, as Stella’s measures dropped off from previous Goliath levels. Kronenbourg 1664 brand consideration and purchase intent increased. Targeting subgroups with contextual messaging drove key metrics: 19-21% uplift in awareness across our subgroups, 11% higher equity scores, and 17% higher approval scores amongst those exposed.

We converted relevance into action: footfall to Sainsbury’s stores grew 42% and 19% to Tescos stores (exposed vs unexposed). Spend increased by 52.3% driven by increased frequency (13.7%) and penetration (14.6%).

By September 2016, we sold 1,643k hectolitres, beating our target by 40%. Kronenbourg 1664 became the fastest growing premium lager, with £16m growth from the off trade, a 28.8% increase in volume share, and a 22% increase in value share. This was primarily driven by stealing shoppers from Stella, whose 2016 growth was flat.

An agile, precise and tactical focus was critical to Kronenbourg 1664’s David-esque victory.