How does a 147-year-old German-beer brewing company steal the attention of younger "hopheads" and win their affection? By launching a multi-platform social media campaign that bridged the gap between online and offline experiences, driving awareness of the new IPL through education and encouragement of sampling at select establishments carrying it.
In October 2014, Leinenkugel's launched an educational content series across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to build awareness of the IPL among a younger fan base. Teaser photos on Instagram worked to grow recognition of the new IPL tap handle designed solely for this beer while Facebook and Twitter featured branded "Beerfographics" and witty IPL facts. With a base of product awareness established among its target audience, Leinenkugel's shifted its focus on driving product trial. Playing homage to the trail sign inspired tap handle, branded Tumblr "Trail Maps" documented the beer's availability on tap and were promoted across Facebook and Twitter to encourage the younger generation to seek it out and try it. Custom data targeting powered by Facebook and one of the social platform's partners enabled the brand to reach a community of young, on-premise beer "influencers" and off-premise beer purchasers. To further encourage IPL sampling, Leinenkugel's invited consumers to show off their beer-drinking achievement by collecting a badge on Untappd, a leading social community and mobile app for beer drinkers, as a celebration of being among the first to sample the new lager.
The campaign surpassed goals, with establishments carrying the IPL over-delivering upon repurchase and velocity goals. Social media drove over 13,000 visits to the Leinenkugel's IPL landing page where users spent an average of nearly two minutes engaging, proving strong sampling and intent to sample rates among the target audience. Nearly 2,000 consumers unlocked the IPL Untappd badge, contributing to its 28.7% share rate and driving a social reach of over 145,000. The campaign drove nearly 10,000,000 social impressions of educational content about the new IPL, establishing increased awareness about the product and paving a clear path for a broader rollout in 2015.
