Make Mine An Estrella

What a video. If you haven't seen the Estrella Damm commercial, then why haven't you? Get on YouTube now, and watch it. It is the best promotional video since Thomson's brilliant "Time For A Holiday" ad for this summer was launched last year, and the Estrella one was shot on Mallorca, unlike Thomson's.

I say promotional video, but it isn't a promotional video for Mallorca. Not officially at any rate. It is a promotion for Estrella Damm beer. I don't know what sort of impact these commercials have on Estrella sales (the commercials are now an annual and much anticipated event), but if nothing else, an immense amount of gratitude should be extended to the Catalonian brewery; the 2012 video does more in terms of Mallorcan promotion than any advert that has ever been the product of governmental control.

Remember the cheesy Nadal-on-a-boat thing? The soundtrack which sounded like it was by The Corrs? Predictable and unimaginative it was. The Estrella video isn't. It tells a story and manages simultaneously to capture all manner of facets of Mallorca that are not confined to its locations (in and around Banyalbufar, it would appear).

The Nadal thing was a total and utter waste of money, a video created in the misguided belief that celebrity sells, when it doesn't. What does sell is emotion, and Estrella's video, like Thomson's, has this by the bucket-load, not sentimentally as was the case with the Thomson ad, but more subliminally. It is charming and a creative work of art of which Estrella, and its agency, should be extremely proud.

While Estrella will anticipate a boost to beer sales, the video is about far more than selling. Estrella has caused something of a sensation with its annual ads. The anticipation of their release matches the anticipation of where they are to be shot and what they will be about. When it was known that Estrella would be coming to Mallorca to shoot this year's video, there was a huge buzz, and the buzz that surrounds the videos extends all the way across the social media spectrum. Estrella goes viral via Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

For Estrella Damm, it is primarily about image and brand awareness and brand enhancement. The video is not solely youthful but mainly it is. The brewery has been astute in cultivating a hip image, one that can be clearly seen on its website. Here, there are examples of bold bottle design and of associations with youth culture and music - Lana Del Ray, Dizzee Rascal, The Chemical Brothers, they all find their way into the Estrella orbit, along with, for an older market, the Human League and Roxy Music. Posters for music events, such as that staged at the old brewery in 2010 and which featured Belle and Sebastian, are retro in a style reminiscent of the 1930s; the one for the 2010 event looks as though a giant young woman has replaced King Kong.

It is very, very clever marketing, and its cleverness, innovation, image creation, brand enhancement, use of internet and social media contrasts massively with the staid approach of official Mallorcan and Balearic promotion. Tired, uninspiring websites, an apparent indifference to social media, a lack of innovation. Amidst all the debate about what should be promoted about Mallorca, e.g. for boosting winter tourism, it is all too easy to forget about how it should be promoted. Instead of the introspective and formulaic approach that is normally adopted, a leaf out of the Estrella book should be taken.

Estrella's advertising campaign is apparently costing 2.5 million euros, and its advert is to be aired for the first time in the UK this year (I'm not sure if it is the whole video or a cut-down version or whether it might just be for cinemas). This isn't a huge amount, but it's rather more than the Balearic Government has at its disposal. Yet, if a similar buzz could be created by an advert that is official promotion for Mallorca, the costs of production and advertising would all be worthwhile. The Estrella video is not just an advert, it is an event; this is the cleverness of it, a cleverness that has eluded those responsible for official tourism promotions.

Still, the Balearic Government will doubtless be grateful to Estrella for doing its job for them. Maybe in fact the video is an example of tourism privatisation. And why not? That there are some beer bottles being handed around, well fine. Beer is drunk on holiday, it is very much part of a holiday. Let Estrella do Mallorca's advertising for it, and one thing's for sure, it would do an altogether more effective job than has been the case up to now.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.