Kahlúa is an iconic coffee liqueur. But it wasn’t always top of people’s minds, it’s drunk on special occasions, mainly in the winter and it has a modest share of voice compared to competitors.

The recent boom of the Espresso Martini gave us an opportunity. If Kahlúa could become synonymous with it, there were no limits to how big the brand could be. So our brief was to make Kahlua famous for the Espresso Martini…

Sometimes big ideas can come from complex, intelligent insights and cultural nuances. And sometimes it can come from the fact that Espresso Martinis look like Stout.

Inspired by the visual similarity, we created a campaign that mimicked the world of famous stout, G*******. We launched on St Patrick’s Day, a day we usually don’t get a look in on, and aimed to break through with a media spend that pales in comparison to our competitors. 

We took all the visual cues people associate with the famous stout brand, from settling shots, to toucans, and made a social film poking fun at G*******. Featuring beloved Irish comedy social influencers, Tadhg and Derry Fleming as well as @shitlondonguinness (drinking a shit pint) to ultimately legitimise our place on St Paddy’s Day.

And it worked. Our campaign got people to take notice & drink more espresso martinis:

• 5.5 million views in a weekend (more than the population of Ireland)
• 3 Kahlúa Espresso Martinis sold per second during St. Paddy’s Day
• 2.2 Million total Kahlúa espresso martinis sold during St. Paddy’s Day (300% sales uplift)
• $3M earned media value
• 1050% more engagement than competitors
• +864% increase in traffic to Kahlúa’s website on SPD.