Jim Beam, a brand of Deerfield, Ill.-based Beam Suntory Inc., announced a new partnership with Snapchat, making it the first whiskey brand to leverage the app for marketing efforts, the company says. Currently active, branded Jim Beam video content, targeted exclusively at consumers of legal drinking age, will appear throughout various Snapchat Live Stories. The partnership and branded content will run in the United Sates through the end of October coinciding with existing marketing efforts supporting new Jim Beam Apple, the newest flavored whiskey from the company.
Additionally, when Snapchat users watch select Live Stories, or curated streams of user-submitted Snaps from various locations and events, those 21 years and older will see vertical, video ads, viewable for 10 seconds, featuring the brand's Signature Serve cocktail, "Jim Beam Apple and Soda." The new cocktail mixes Jim Beam Apple and club soda over ice with a wedge of lemon.
"We are thrilled to be partnering with Snapchat who provides us an excellent opportunity to create buzzworthy awareness to our fans on a relevant age-gated platform with significant reach," said Andrea Javor, senior director of media at Beam Suntory, in a statement. "We take pride in staying at the forefront of innovation, not only with our product offerings but also through our marketing efforts, and we consider Snapchat an excellent strategic partner to bring our crisp, refreshing new product to market."
From a brand marketing objective standpoint, Snapchat currently is the fastest growing platform for Jim Beam’s Apple target audience, which includes millennials of legal drinking age, the company says. It also aligns with the brand's priority on mobile marketing to connect with millennial consumers where they're receiving information, it adds. Jim Beam also is able to strategically drive contextual relevancy for its new apple-flavored whiskey by inserting the brand into specific Snapchat Live Stories that connect with refreshment occasions.
In addition to Snapchat, Jim Beam is executing a 3-D sound program for on-premise sampling and trial in key markets across the country, it says. The interactive experience features audio content, which takes fans through the experience of making and enjoying the new Jim Beam Apple and Soda cocktail through depth and dimensional effects. The immersive 3-D-sound interaction is expected to reach nearly 85,000 consumers at bars through 650 sampling events in 13 markets nationwide this fall, the company adds.
