Do you see any challenges when it comes to breaking through authentically in these new markets? My friends in the UK, however, tease me about Americans and their hard seltzer. In the US, this has been an amazing category to watch. It’s more like heightened user-generated content, which is really what's been the root of White Claw’s marketing all along. It’s a very different approach to advertising. We’ll be working with a diverse group of creators and evolving that throughout the year so the content always stays fresh. We’re just working with these creators to create pure, uncomplicated, fun moments that we’re then pairing with up-and-coming music that matches the feeling. So what we’re doing is partnering with creators from across the country, around the world. White Claw is about your freedom and your people in those moments that just don’t get any better. It evokes this feeling of pure, uncomplicated fun which is what we used as the inspiration. When we were getting to the bottom of the campaign, the ‘why,’ what was it? It’s the combination of excellent product and it just caught the hearts and minds of consumers.
It has overwhelmingly been embraced by the fans and promoted by the fans. They’ve generated over four billion organic impressions just from memes. The consumers have kept this brand fresh, bringing White Claw in their lives, their social feeds, selfies, videos, homemade merch, hashtags and memes. So when it came to this creative idea, the consumer love is exactly where we started. It really has been a social movement as much as anything. What makes it different? How will it keep the momentum going globally? Tell us about the ‘Let’s White Claw’ campaign. When you look at the size and the scale, the White Claw story is phenomenal. We grew 118% last year and we contributed over a billion dollars in growth in 2020 alone, which is more than the next two largest growth brands across all of beverage combined. This category is as getting as competitive as any I’ve ever seen. There were six competitors at this time last year. We’re the number one-selling hard seltzer in the hottest category on the planet. This brand came out in 2016 and has had unbelievable growth.
We’ll have a consistent brand image throughout the world. this is the right time to launch a campaign to educate the world about what the product is. And then we will launch in another 10 markets this year. We’re currently in Canada, the Netherlands, the UK, Ireland and Australia. So we’re expanding the product around the world. White Claw has built its brand on social. The Drum caught up with chief marketer John Shea to learn more about the brand’s first global ad campaign. Category leader White Claw has now launched in five global markets, including the UK, with 10 more on the horizon.