After a fast start to 2021 in which it ranks as the top share-gainer in craft beer, Blue Moon LightSky today unveils its 2021 marketing campaign with a series of new video spots that for the first time establish the brand’s personality and tone as youthful, vibrant and energetic.
Seeking to showcase its credentials as a light beer that doesn’t compromise on flavor, LightSky’s new ads feature the brand in familiar daytime beer situations. With a new tagline “Savor Every Sip,” the campaign’s intent is to showcase to consumers that a light beer brewed by Blue Moon can deliver a burst of flavor at just 95 calories.
“What we’ve learned about this brand in its first year on the market is that a key driver of repeat purchase of LightSky is that its flavor was better than they expected from a 95-calorie beer,” says Rose Osial, marketing manager for the brand. “And our new creative juxtaposes a premium high-quality beer with an occasion that’s not always thought of like that. What we’re telling consumers is that you’re able to have something lighter without compromising any of the flavor.”
Featuring the actor Rachael Harris, whose credits include “New Girl,” “Lucifer” and “Suits,” each of the new spots use lighthearted, humor to position the beer as something to be savored rather than a prop that plays a secondary role to the activity at hand.
The spots will roll across TV, streaming services, digital and social media through September, including on premium programming such as the Summer Olympics, the MLB All-Star Game and the ESPY Awards show on ESPN.
They represent an evolution from LightSky’s product- and package-focused ads from 2020, which sought to introduce drinkers to the brand upon its debut.
“Last year, when we launched during the pandemic, we did so leveraging the equity and strength of the Blue Moon franchise,” Osial says. “Blue Moon is and always will be core to LightSky’s identity, but we felt it was time to give LightSky a bit more personality of its own and give drinkers the reasons to reach for it.”
The new campaign comes as the brand continues to ride a hot hand after finishing last year as the top new craft beer in the U.S. So far in 2021, it has corralled the most share in the craft segment in both dollar sales and volume, according to year-to-date IRI multi-outlet and convenience data through June 6.
Even better, Osial says, LightSky has been incremental to the Blue Moon franchise, sourcing drinkers from outside the beer category.
“This is a brand that just continues to grow, and as we get deeper into warmer months, we’re seeing velocity really picking up,” Osial says. “It’s proof that more drinkers are learning about LightSky and returning to it time and again.”