Pimm’s

Brand positioning

The task was to re-position the brand, making it relevant to a younger, mainstream target.

The Adcepts explored multiple angles. We found that although its upper class image intimidated and made it irrelevant to most – it was much more powerful to be honest rather than ignore its heritage. We found that Adcepts which humorously ‘sent up’ Pimm’s ‘class’ had the ability to reframe the brand as relevant to all, and make the brand loveable. These conclusions led directly to the breakthrough campaign that transformed the brand.

Bell’s Whisky

Brand positioning

Bell’s was about to lose its No. 1 spot in the market, as the biggest whisky in the UK, to Famous Grouse. With a younger target market not credibly within Bell’s reach, it was decided to try to reinvigorate Bell’s amongst its core 50+ audience.

Through Adcepts the brand was able to find exactly the right tone & image: not mirroring 50+ men, instead men wanted the brand to be personified by someone a little younger than them, aspirational and with irrefutable skill & ‘quality’.

The resulting communications brief led directly to the Jools Holland campaign & within 6 months of that breaking the brand was growing for the first time in 10 years, cementing its No. 1 status.

Grolsch

Brand positioning

Grolsch needed a global brand positioning to drive growth. Using Adcepts allowed us to fully investigate what Grolsch could stand for globally. We combined this with an international workshop with key global distributors to unlock a compelling global positioning & inspire advertising development.

Peperami / Bifi

Brand positioning and communications development

Peperami was a small, successful brand in the UK with far greater ambitions. Adcepts allowed the brand team to expose many different angles and discover the positioning that has famously led to massive growth and award-winning advertising.

The Adcepts revealed that the key was to send up masculinity with an inherently subversive and rebellious humour. The result was a creative brief which led straight to the ‘Bit of an animal’ campaign, winning 7 awards including the IPA Effectiveness Awards, Planning Award and two Golden Arrows at Cannes. The brand tripled in size as a result of the re-launch.

Archer’s

Brand positioning / Communications development / innovation / NPD

Archer’s Schnapps was 15 years old and growth had plateaued. We were able to scope many different directions and targets for the brand – the result was a totally fresh new positioning, product innovation & communications.

We discovered that targeting women (then revolutionary in the drinks market, where masculine credibility was thought to be key) was the answer: specifically, the unique sense of fun of a girls’ night out. The resulting communications brief led to the successful re-launch and a 7-fold increase in sales.