Market research
Non-alcoholic spirits brand Seedlip is to get its first advertising, push in the UK.
Diageo's Seedlip campaign includes adverts on London buses
The campaign, called 'Drink to the Future', will roll out on 13 January in London and Manchester. Activations include rail, underground, buses, billboards and digital.
"To be kicking off 2020 with our first-ever advertising campaign is incredibly exciting and a very proud moment as I look back at what we've achieved in just four year," said Seedlip founder Ben Branson. "We are still just scratching the surface of non-alcoholic spirit's potential and this advertising campaign will take us another step closer to our aim of making sophisticated non-alcoholic options as relevant as their alcoholic counterparts."
The campaign was created by ad agency And Rising.
Seedlip, which was taken on by Diageo-backed accelerator programme Distill Ventures in 2016, became majority-owned by Diageo last August. This week, Distill Ventures took a minority stake in another non-alcoholic spirits maker, Ritual Zero Proof.
just-drinks thinks...
The upcoming Seedlip campaign is a watershed moment for non-alcoholic spirits. The brand is the first in the sub-category to launch a large-scale advertising drive that will include full-scale ad wraps of London buses. It's no coincidence the new spend follows Diageo taking majority control of Seedlip, and the global drinks giant will likely dig deeper into its marketing pockets to fund on-premise activations and sampling events.
But, Seedlip won't be the only company to benefit from Diageo's largesse. The rest of the non-alcoholic spirits sector - made up of a handful of brands from the big distillers alongside a long tail of independent producers - will gain from the increasing normalisation of what remains an oxymoronic product. When Seedlip first launched four years ago, igniting the category, everyone in the industry couldn't quite get their heads around the concept of a non-alcoholic 'spirit'.
Today, the idea is widespread, especially in the cocktail world. The new campaign will continue that work, and is poised to bring non-alcoholic spirits to even more consumers.
Sectors: Marketing – advertising & promotions, Spirits
Companies: Diageo
