Belgium: Inbev seeks digital shop for Stella Artois

Inbev is understood to be hunting a digital agency for its Stella Artois brand following a change in its marketing strategy designed to shed its ‘loutish’ image, Precisionmarketing reported January 10.

The ‘reassuringly expensive’ Belgian beer has now been replaced with the strapline, ‘Pass on something good’ in its latest TV ad and dropped its first part of the name, Stella, in a bid to overhaul the brand’s image. The campaign was supported by a poster and press campaign.

The brand recently unveiled a new website featuring a short film, La Bouteille, which was designed by Lowe Worldwide specifically for the site, www.stellaartois.com. The film was directed by Hollywood film director Martin Krejci. The site aims to connect with consumers in a new way, informing them of the brand’s heritage and encourages visitors to send a series of digital short films onto friends.

The site was launched at the same time as the Advertising Standards Authority banned an ad for Stella Artois as it claimed the brand came from “a family dedicated to brewing for six centuries”. This was because other brands in the family, Artois Bock and Peeterman Artois, only launched at the end of 2006.

11 January, 2008