Remy Cointreau Prepares Cognac Commercial for Super Bowl Filled With Beer Ads (EXCLUSIVE)
Talk about a well-stocked bar!
Super Bowl advertising has long centered on beer, but the 2023 game will feature more kinds of alcohol during the commercial breaks than it has in years. Viewers can expect to be served mixed drinks.
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Rémy Cointreau is stepping up its investment around the spectacle, readying a 60-second spot for its Rémy Martin cognac slated to air in the first quarter of the game, when viewer attention is often intense. While details around the ad are being kept under wraps for now, the high-quality brandy’s appearance during national Super Bowl time marks “a major investment, and also reflects our confidence in the U.S, market for Remy Martin,” says Nicolas Beckers, CEO of Rémy Cointreau Americas, in an interview.
For the past two years, Rémy Cointreau has put its money into regional ads during the Super Bowl, running a 30-second spot for its Botanist gin in 17 markets in 2022 and launching a 30-second spot in 15 markets in 2021 for Rémy Cointreau. Regional ad time often costs tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars, compared with millions for national airtime. Fox, which is airing Super Bowl LVII on February 12, has been seeking between $6 million and $7 million for a 30-second ad.
Brewers and makers of alcoholic beverages have been playing in the local-media sidelines of the Super Bowl for years. Barred from the national ad roster by a long-standing deal between the NFL, TV networks and Anheuser-Busch InBev, rivals have worked to gain attention from millions of viewers by appealing to them from commercials purchased from local stations airing the Big Game that get a certain amount of ad time allocated to them.
In years past, Boston Beer and Diageo have run ads featuring celebrities like Joe Montana or horses that look a lot like the stately Clydesdales long associated with Anheuser-Busch’s Budweiser. Most fans don’t know whether they are watching national or local TV commercial inventory.
Now Rémy Cointreau and others can take the field. The Rémy Martin spot is slated to join commercials from Molson Coors and, according to a report by Ad Age, Diageo’s Crown Royal whiskey
Anheuser’s decision helped spur Rémy Cointreau’s, says Beckers, along with the fact that the company has seen sales volume of its products increase during the recent pandemic. More people were sampling premium-quality alcoholic beverages at home, he says, leading Rémy Cointreau to push its brands in various ways, including various forms of TV advertising.
The Super Bowl commercial, created with independent ad agency Fred & Farid, is expected to burnish a theme centered around celebrating together.
Remy Cointreau won’t just pour it out on screen. The company will use a wide series of tasting events at liquor stores and bigger venues to get the word out about Remy Martin. “There will be sampling in more than 2000 liquor stores and wine shops, and visibility in 60 big events leading to the game,” says Beckers.
Super Bowl viewers may feel slightly buzzed after seeing so many different commercials for alcohol.
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