Olmeca is Mexican tequila and is the #1 by market share in the category in Russia (NielsenNUR+Metro) thanks to the shift in 2018 to partygoers aged 18-24. But in order to maintain its leadership in the category it’s necessary to be always relevant for the audience and surprise it.

Every year there’s an important period for Olmeca (as originally Mexican)—November—when the brand organizes parties in relation to the Mexican holiday "Day of the Dead". This is an opportunity to take a unique territory and get wide media coverage around the event. However, in 2020 the party, the main component of the campaign, was canceled due to the epidemic. So how do we activate a unique territory without having a party and play off a traditional holiday to make it relevant to the audience?

Our goal: to launch a campaign related to Day of the Dead, in terms of home parties.

We have noticed that the nostalgia trend has become even more relevant to our audience, which loves humor and post-irony: the entire TikTok is packed with 2000s hits, and the Instagram feed is filled with VHS filters.

We combined this trend with Day of the Dead which Olmeca celebrates every year as a Mexican brand. This year we turned the traditional Day of the Dead into a flexers’ DAY OF THE DEAD... TRENDS.

An occasion to remember your favorite styles, which unfortunately have gone out of fashion: glamor, punk rock, hipsters, emo etc. And celebrate the holiday even at home.

We created vivid branded visuals and video content, which inspired users to remember their favorite dead trends. They could also “resurrect” them with a special Olmeca altar — a party set with piñata, branded shots, candles and Palo Santo, participating in contests on social media.

In Russia there are strict legal restrictions for alcohol advertising (no TV, no media) so we have to make campaigns with the help of bright ideas spreading organically.

Our approach: audience-first. We observe TA to find insights and turn them into campaigns.

Among the audience of partygoers aged 18-24 we identified a tribe to study – flexers (Prime & Ipsos internal report July 2019 – June 2020). Hanging out with friends is extremely important for them. They can have a party anywhere. They love experimenting with their looks. They enjoy laughing at themselves at being post-ironic.

They appreciate ideas of unusual, funny leisure activities with friends. But dressing up in traditional clothing for the Day of the Dead is not their thing.

So we turned these facts into relevant idea and gave them tools and inspiration for great pastime and content.

For celebrating Day of the Dead Trends in November 2020 we created post-ironic content for social media (Instagram, TikTok, VK – #1 social network in Russia) showing different "dead" trends in modern fashionable way. We made lifestyle shootings and used 3D motion graphics to get really finger-stop effect.

We made very special home party sets – Olmeca “altars” for trends resurrection: piñatas with branded shots, candles, Palo Santo incense and Olmeca itself.

Users could get them participating in contests: sharing their favorite trends on Instagram or contacting the Olmeca social media bot on VK. This bot was programmed to advise which style to revive replying to users’ comments with a funny phrase and a GIF-animation right under the activation post.

Bloggers loved our idea and posted their Day of the Dead Trends inspired looks.

In trade there were vivid POS materials in a festive flexers style.

When a physical celebration was impossible, we managed to produce a truly relevant campaign that had a positive impact on the brand at all levels: from stimulating sales at points of sales to building communication with the target audience online.

Results:

Business

Contribution to market share growth by 5.9 p.p. within other factors (compared to the similar period last year).

Marketing

Growth of knowledge among the TA (18-24) – Spontaneous awareness indicator by 3 p.p. (compared to the similar period last year).

Tactical KPIs

1. Reach as the result of campaign resonance: 4 940 000 (bloggers and VKontakte communities).

2. Engagement in content:

- Average ERR (actions/reach) of bloggers’ Instagram posts –11.2% (vs 8% on average);

- Average ERR of bloggers in TikTok–15.6 (vs 11% on average);

- Contest post on Olmeca Instagram produced 7% ERR (vs average 5%), and there were 5.5 thousand comments under the post on VKontakte.