Estrella Damn: a case of a perfect seasonal campaign.

Every summer since 2009 Spain waits for one of the unofficial signs of summer: the launch of the Estrella Damm’s summer commercial. The Barcelona based beer company launched a “half music video half commercial” where they show their idea of how a summer should be. In the campaign named #Mediterraniamente you can see friends, nice beaches, leisure time and, of course, their beer with the catchiest indie/hipster song that eventually became one of the hits of the summer. Here you can see the videos of this campaign, beginning in 2009, which has already had eight iterations.

With the SPIN framework as a reference, it is easy to understand why this campaign is so successful. Let’s see how #Mediterraneamente treats the aspects of this framework.

Spreadability. They created a video that is far from being cheesy but still shows all the things that are good about the summer. Sun, beautiful landscapes, good times, music… and don’t forget about (their) beer. It was hard to find elements that people would not identify with easily, and when some of them were found by users Estrella Damm modified them in the following versions. For instance, the first two videos were criticised by showing a summer where the characters were on holiday all summer long and enjoying a luxurious lifestyle. So, in the third version, the plot was about 2 interns in El Bulli, a famous restaurant from Catalonia, where they mixed leisure and work.

Estrella Damm used YouTube and it started to become viral with users sharing it in other platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. Using this platform they assured that their message was spread easily and in the way that they wanted to: focusing on the video clip itself.

Propagativity. The content showed it has richness in several aspects. The plot is intriguing enough to catch the viewer’s attention and the music they use is fresh and catchy enough to become a summer hit every year, it was filmed using beautiful landscapes and, on top of that, it gives you the feeling that you could easily be the one living that life. At the same time, it does not feel like a classic commercial, boring and obviously aimed to raise sales, so people would not consider it spam.

Integration: this campaign also combined offline and online channels, for example, you could hear the theme song on the radio and it would be directly associated with the commercial itself.

Nexus was achieved when this commercial was marketed as a seasonal campaign, therefore, raising expectation among the viewers for the following year’s commercial. Users were left to ponder how the plot would develop next summer and they will be left in anticipation.

In terms of the SPIN framework, #Mediterraneamente is a solid campaign that fulfills all of its aspects.