Brief:
- Stella Artois is celebrating the start of summer with a weekly audio series hosted by talk-show star Andy Cohen while offering discounts on beer. Cohen narrates the "Daydreaming in The Life Artois" series on the Anheuser-Busch-owned brand's YouTube channel, with new episodes appearing every Friday at 5 p.m. from June 12 to July 10, per an announcement shared with Mobile Marketer.
- In the series, Cohen reads from summer-themed stories that celebrate five different cities including Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. The featured authors include Jennine Capó Crucet, Jen Doll, Alex Espinoza, Glen David Gold and Anu Valia.
- After the premier episode last Friday, Cohen hosted a story discussion over a Stella Artois on his Instagram Live channel. The brand is offering rebates of $2.50 on a six-pack, $4 on a 12-pack or $6 rebate on an 18-pack to mobile users who text the keyword "DAYDREAMS" to 404040 every week through July 17, according to its announcement.
Insight:
Stella Artois' audio series featuring Andy Cohen aims to reach audiences who stream spoken-word content from digital platforms. The coronavirus pandemic has led to shifts in how people consume audio content, with various reports suggesting that podcast listening declined as fewer people commuted to work, while audiobook consumption soared among homebound consumers. Those listening patterns may prove to be short-lived as lockdowns are lifted and people leave their homes more frequently.
"Daydreaming in The Life Artois" can reach consumers who are more likely to buy beer at retailers instead of bars and restaurants, whose gradual reopening will drive higher on-premise sales. Lockdowns spurred a jump in off-premise beer sales in mid-March, but those gains have started to fade as on-premise sales slowly recover. During the week ended May 30, off-premise sales rose 18% from a year earlier — the slowest growth since the pandemic began — to more than $1.06 billion, per Nielsen data cited by Brewbound. Amid these shifts, beer brands like Stella Artois will have to adjust their marketing strategies for on- and off-premise sales channels.
The brand's audio series follows recent digital marketing campaigns that include social media and streamed content. Stella Artois in April started a weekly cooking show on Instagram's IGTV video streaming platform to entertain and inform viewers while raising money for restaurants facing financial hardship during lockdowns. The series featured actress Eva Longoria, chef Marcus Samuelsson and celebrity stylist Karla Welch. Stella Artois also rolled out a social media campaign and contest featuring a couple from Netflix reality show "Love Is Blind," where the brand offered to pay for the wedding of one couple that got engaged while social distancing.
