Havana Club

Havana  Club:  Nothing  Compares  to  Havana    

Havana  Club,  an  alcohol  rum  beverage  brand,  took  the  task  in  2012  to  defend  its   brand’s  position  by  rivalling  the  continuous  ‘number  one  hot  brand’,  Bacardi   (WARC  Case  Study  2012:  p.2).  Teaming  with  M&C  Saatchi,  the  “Nothing   compares  to  Havana”  campaign  was  created,  displaying  the  Cuban  culture  using   emotional  selling  appeal,  directly  addressing  the  consumer  with  the  strapline  “to   go  see  your  friends,  you  don’t  go  on  internet,  you  go  see  your  friends”  and  using   other  strategic  selling  techniques;  combining  above  and  below-­‐the-­‐line  activity   including  billboard,  print  and  cinema  advertising,  as  well  as  online  activity  and   PR  support.  The  campaign  exhibited  success  after  winning  Grand  Prix  at  the  Euro   Effie  Awards  2012,  the  gold  standard  in  marketing  communication  effectiveness   (M&C  Saatchi  2012).  Reported  by  Ben  Bold  (6th  July  2011)  Yves  Schladenhaufen,   Havana  Club’s  International  Marketing  Director  said,  “Havana  Club  is  known  as   the  genuine  inheritor  of  Cuban  rum  tradition.  Not  only  has  it  become  a  true   ambassador  of  Cuba  across  the  globe,  but  also  actively  promotes  the  Cuban   creativity  and  talents  to  an  international  audience”.    

Advertising  Agency:  M&C  Saatchi    

M&C  Saatchi  formed  in  1995,  after  brothers  Maurice  and  Charles  Saatchi  were   removed  of  their  chairman  titles  at  Saatchi  &  Saatchi  by  shareholders.  “Brutal   Simplicity  of  Thought”  is  the  core  philosophy  of  the  agency,  with  recent  clients   including  NatWest,  TFL,  Ballantine’s  Whisky,  Peroni  and  Havana  Club.  In  2000   M&C  Saatchi  won  Agency  of  the  year  and  officially  overtook  Saatchi  &  Saatchi  in   billings  according  to  the  M&C  Saatchi  Story  (no  date).  M&C  Saatchi  acknowledge   a  technological  change,  creating  a  Mobile  sector  at  M&C  Saatchi  delivering  79%   growth  in  its  first  year,  utilising  a  Central  Strategy  Unit  to  bring  together   strategists  believing  that  they  [M&C  Saatchi]  are  “uniquely  placed  to  help  clients   navigate  the  incredibly  complex  new  world”  (M&C  Saatchi,  no  date).    

Havana  Club  Brand  &  Campaign  Objectives   The  Havana  Club  brand  sells  whiskey-­‐based  products  around  the  world  in  over   125  countries  promoting  its  Cuban  heritage,  founded  in  1878  by  Jose  Arechabala   in  Cuba  (Sainsbury  2006:  p.  178).  In  2009,  Havana  Club  International  set  an   objective  to  compete  with  rival  brand  Bacardi  to  become  “an  iconic  premium   brand,  sold  at  a  premium  price”  worldwide  (excluding  USA)  and  not  “become  the   second-­‐best  mainstream  brand”  in  selling  rum  (WARC  Case  Study  2012:  p.2).   Bacardi  sells  three  times  more  cases  every  year  with  a  global  communication   budget  ten  times  larger  than  that  of  The  Havana  Club  (WARC  Case  Study  2012:   p.2).  The  Havana  Club,  despite  the  current  economic  recession  working  with   advertising  agency  M&C  Saatchi,  set  out  objectives  to  defend  the  brands  position,   highlighted  here  from  the  WARC  Case  Study,  Havana  Club:  Nothing  Compares  to   Havana  (2012:  p.2):     Business  Objectives:   • Reach  3.9  million  cases  sold  globally  in  the  2011-­‐12  fiscal  year  

• Increase  volume  and  value  market  shares  in  all  markets  against  Bacardi     Marketing  Objectives:   • Become  a  “hot  brand”  (increase  advocates  friends  among  consumers,   become  a  reference  for  bartenders)   • Improve  the  brand  consumer  funnel  (awareness,  consideration,  usage)   against  Bacardi   Communication  Objectives:   • Improve  brand  image   • Be  talked  about:  PR  coverage     The  campaign  titled  “Nothing  compares  to  Havana”  promoted  the  Havana  culture   known  as  “Havana  Cultura”  whereby  promoting  contemporary  Cuban  artists,  the   shooting  of  print  adverts  in  Havana  with  genuine  Cuban  people  presenting   Cuban  culture  and  values,  and  promote  a  feature  length  movie  called  “7  days  in   Havana”  co-­‐produced  by  Havana  Club.  According  to  Steve  Paddok  (2012)   “repeating  messages  in  different  ways  will  encourage  more  of  a  response”.  The   campaign  media  strategy  was  distributed  24%  in  television,  5%  branded   content,  6%  online/  interactive,  3%  digital,  1%  trade  magazine,  38%  consumer   magazine,  1%  point  of  sale  and  22%  on  other  marketing  techniques  (e.g.  PR)   (WARC  Case  Study  2012:  p.5).    The  wide  range  of  media  strategies  ensures   Havana  Club  that  the  target  audience  have  the  best  opportunity  of  experiencing   their  campaign  increasing  the  probability  of  consumer  consumption.    

Alcohol  Beverage  Sector   The  August  2002  publication  from  UK  pressure  group  Alcohol  Concern,  100%   Proof:  Research  for  Action  on  Alcohol,  concluded  that  “the  majority  of   econometric  studies…find  little  or  no  evidence  for  advertising  effects  on  total   consumption  levels”  (Dorsett  and  Dickerson  2004:  p.155).  However,  there  is  a   growing  concern  for  the  possibility,  restricting  the  advertising  alcohol  industry   further  due  to  the  rise  in  youth  binge  drinking;  Campaign  (26th  September  2003)   reports  “although  ads  should  not  appeal  to  under-­‐18s  or  depict  drinkers  under   25,  the  report  said:  ‘There  is  a  perception  the  content  and  target  of  advertising   go  beyond  the  spirit  of  existing  self-­‐regulation.’”  Havana  Club’s  2012  campaign   Nothing  Compares  to  Havana  set  their  target  market  as  “Urban  Cultural   Explores”,  both  premium  spirit  drinkers  and  opinion  leaders  (WARC  Case  Study   2012:  p.2);  they  explicitly  did  not  include  age,  this  prevents  the  possibility  of   encouraging  youth  binge  drinking  but  does  not  exclude  them  from  the  possibility   of  the  advert  reaching  them.    

FCB  Grid   Michael  Ray  developed  an  alternative  hierarchies’  model  as  seen  in  figure  1   (Belch  and  Belch  2012:  p.162),  demonstrating  three  stages  on  product   involvement  and  product  differentiation,  with  three  different  outcomes,  to  learn,   validate  and  passively  learn.  However  this  model  fails  to  give  clear   recommendations  regarding  optimisation  of  advertising  content  to  advertise   different  products  (Belch  and  Belch  2012:  p.161-­‐162).  According  to  Michael   Ray’s  model,  the  alcohol  advertising  industry,  selling  low-­‐involvement  products,  

are  required  to  advertise  effectively  by  ensuring  consumers  are  passively   learning.       Vaughn’s  FCB  model,  however,  develops  Michael  Ray’s  model  with  the   consideration  of  brain  specialisation;  considering  high  and  low  involvement  and   thinking  versus  feeling  ”processing  at  each  involvement”,  this  is  demonstrated  in   figure  2  (Belch  and  Belch  2012:  p.165-­‐166).  Therefore,  Havana  Club,  low   involvement/  feeling  product  known  as  the  self-­‐satisfaction  strategy  would   suggest  consumers  do  not  learn  the  product  until  after  purchase.  The  best  forms   of  media  strategy  are  billboards,  newspapers  and  point  of  sale,  the  same  media   strategies  included  in  the  Havana  Club:  Nothing  Compares  to  Havana  campaign;   furthermore,  the  most  affective  form  of  creative  strategy  is  attention  advertising,   also  exhibited  in  Havana  Club’s  2012  campaign.       Mortimer  (2002:  p.463)  advanced  both  Ray’s  and  Vaughn’s  models  suggesting   each  cell  grid  evokes  a  different  product  category  as  seen  in  figure  3  (Mortimer   2002:  p.465);  high  involvement,  thinking  products  are  economic  e.g.  life   insurance,  car,  house  insurance  and  low  involvement,  feeling  products  are  social   e.g.  alcohol,  fast  food,  tobacco;  therefore,  the  product  differentiation,  discussed   by  Ray,  is  a  cultural  association  between  different  product  categories  and  the   consumers  attitude,  emotion  and  intension  toward  the  advert;  a  European   consumer  would  enjoy  alcohol  with  friends  to  relax,  a  societal  norm,  therefore   the  product  involvement  is  relaxed  hence  low  involvement,  feeling  strategy.    

 

 

 

  Figure  4:  Havana  Club  -­‐  Nothing  Compares  to  Havana  Advert.  (Source:   WARC  Case  Study  2012:  p.  4)     Figure  4  (WARC  Case  Study  2012:  p.4)  exhibits  the  selected  advert  from  the   campaign  that  will  be  analysed  in  the  following  section  of  this  report.    

Creative  Strategy  

The  unique  selling  point  of  the  Havana  Club  rum  was  its  clear  and  genuine  Cuban   heritage,  as  apposed  to  its  rival  vaguely  Latin  competitors,  Bacardi.    M&C  Saatchi   and  Havana  Club  choose  to  expose  Havana  Club  as  a  “Cultural  Brand”,  the  only   international  Cuban  brand.  The  agency’s  clear  objective  was  to  “make  people   experience  the  incomparable  human  and  artistic  culture  from  contemporary   Havana”  (WARC  Case  Study  2012:  p.3).  Figure  4  (WARC  Case  Study  2012:  p.4)   exhibits  genuine  Cuban  citizens  with  a  clear  reference  to  the  location  in  the   strapline  “In  Havana”.  The  display  of  Cuban  cultural  values  throughout  this   advert,  is  a  rare  creative  strategy  used  for  an  international  campaign;  “society   shapes  consumer’s  basic  values,  which  affect  their  behaviour  and  determine  how   they  respond  to  various  situations”  (Belch  and  Belch  2012:  p.640).  The   application  of  selling  a  product  in  a  different  country  displaying  native  values   and  norms  as  a  form  of  selling  is  usually  unresponsive,  as  “each  country  has   certain  cultural  traditions,  customs  and  values”,  which  may  be  un-­‐transferable   between  countries  and  cultures  (Belch  and  Belch  2012:  p.136).    

Target  Audience    

The  Havana  Club  target  market  in  the  wake  of  its  new  campaign  did  not  specify  a   gender  target;  the  spirit  rum  is  a  unisex  product  internationally,  therefore  not   using  any  specific  gender  selling  technique  (WARC  Case  Study  2012:  p.2).  Both   gender  and  sexualisation  of  the  gender  hold  good  selling  techniques  that  cannot   be  directly  applied  to  the  selling  of  Havana  Club,  as  it  is  a  unisex  advert  it  must   display  appeal  of  both  genders.  Women  are  usually  presented  as  traditional   housewives  or  contemporary  independent  women  when  selling  a  product   directly  to  a  woman,  and  men  are  usually  presented  as  independent  and  strong   with  a  strong  use  of  rational  appeal  when  selling  directly  to  a  man  (Zimmerman   2008:  p.72).  However,  the  use  of  women  in  an  advert  selling  a  male  gender   product  sexualises  a  women’s  body  and  attitude,  and  a  man  in  a  female  gender   product  advert  displays  a  good  father  and/or  husband  figure  in  the  form  of  a   metrosexual  man  (Zimmerman  2008:  p.77).  Marketing  (2012:  p.14)  reports   “there  are  great  alcohol  brands  that  manage  to  disproportionately  appeal  to   women  without  defining  their  rai  son  d'être  [reason  for  being]  by  gender”.   Havana  Club:  Nothing  Compares  to  Havana,  displays  a  balanced  appeal  to  both   men  and  women,  the  advert  displays  both  genders,  neither  in  a  provocative   manner.  The  lady  in  the  background  has  a  low  cut  top  and  the  man  physic   establishes  him  to  be  a  strong  man,  the  interaction  between  the  male  and  female   is  positive,  these  appeals  cover  the  range  of  techniques  of  communicating  with   both  genders.    

Print  Advertising     Print  Media  is  a  successful  tool  of  advertising,  used  in  magazine,  newspapers,   collateral  and  out-­‐of-­‐home,  figure  4  (WARC  Case  Study  2012:  p.4)  displays   Havana  Club  Print  advert  used  in  consumer  magazines.  Belch  and  Belch  (2012:   p.405)  suggest  “magazines  have  a  number  of  characteristics  that  make  them   attractive  as  an  advertising  medium.  Strengths  of  magazines  include  their   selectivity,  excellence  reproduction  quality,  creative  flexibility,  permanence,   prestige,  readers’  high  receptivity  and  involvement  and  services  they  offer  to   advertisements”.  Bronner  and  Neijens  (2006)  completed  a  study  whereby   participants  were  surveyed  to  state  their  experience  of  different  mediums.  As   seen  in  figure  5  (Bronner  and  Neijens  2006:  p.93),  print  media,  newspapers,  free   local  papers  and  magazines  present  the  least  negative  emotion/irritation   experience  of  participants  and  magazine  medium  presenting  the  most  successful   medium  in  transformational  experiences  amongst  participants.        

 

Message  

The  ability  to  effectively  persuade  an  audience  through  the  use  of  print  adverting   is  dependant  on  the  message;  the  structure  of  the  advert  and  message  appeal   technique  (Belch  and  Belch  2012:  p.195).  Havana  Club:  Nothing  Compares  to   Havana  as  exhibited  in  figure  4  (WARC  Case  Study  2012:  p.2)  demonstrates  the   most  effective  display  of  structure,  “research  on  learning  and  memory  generally   indicates  that  items  presented  first  and  last  are  remembered  better  than  those   presented  in  the  middle”.  Havana  Club  present  the  product  at  the  bottom  of  the   advert  alongside  the  strapline  and  the  brand’s  website.  The  visual  content  of  the   advert  is  displayed  from  the  top  to  the  middle  of  the  advert;  subtly  using   persuasive  advertising  techniques,  yellow  clothing  worn  in  the  advert  reflects   the  brand’s  trademark  colours  alongside  the  pigmentation  of  the  colour  red  in   the  advert.         The  strapline  reads,  “In  Havana,  when  you  can’t  find  a  party,  you  throw  one”,  a   close-­‐ended  conclusion  is  the  technique  used;  although  Belch  and  Belch  (2012:   p.197)  suggest,  “more  highly  educated  people  prefer  to  draw  their  own   conclusions”,  they  also  state  “even  a  highly  educated  audience  may  need   assistance  if  its  knowledge  level  in  a  particular  area  is  low”,  it  could  be  assumed   that  M&C  Saatchi’s  market  research  presented  a  lack  of  knowledge  of  the  Cuban   culture,  therefore  using  this  technique  as  an  effective  tool.       Furthermore,  a  one-­‐sided  message  technique  is  utilised  by  Havana  Club,  due  to   the  campaign  objectives  of  defending  the  brands  position  against  rivals  Bacardi,   a  two-­‐sided  message  may  discourage  the  brand  further;  Belch  and  Belch  (2012:   p.197)  report  “one-­‐sided  messages  are  the  most  effective  when  the  target   audience  already  holds  a  favourable  opinion  about  the  topic”,  M&C  Saatchi’s   market  research  may  also  of  concluded  a  favourable  opinion  on  alcohol   beverages.       Havana  Club:  Nothing  compares  to  Havana  campaigns’  advert  utilises  an   emotional  appeal  message  through  transformational  techniques.  Puto  and  Wells   (1984:  p.638-­‐643)  define  transformational  advertising  as  “one  which  associates   the  experience  of  using  (consuming)  the  advertised  brand  with  a  unique  set  of   psychological  characteristics  which  would  not  typically  be  associated  with  the   brand  experience  to  the  same  degree  without  exposure  to  the  advertisement”.   Havana  Club  is  establishing  a  cultural  belief  that  will  be  “activated  when   consumers  use  it,  transforming  their  interpretation  of  the  usage  experience”   (Belch  and  Belch  2012:  p.294).  

Effective  Campaign    

The  “Nothing  Compares  to  Havana”  campaign  set  out  to  defend  the  brands   position.  One  objective  to  reach  “3.9  million  cases  sold  globally  in  the  2011-­‐2012   fiscal  year”  set  to  meet  its  objective,  reaching  3.85  million  cases  globally  sold  in   2011  alone  (WARC  Case  Study  2012:  p.6).  Both  business  and  marketing   objectives  set  out  to  overtake  rivals  Bacardi,  as  number  one  rum  “hot  brand”,  “in   the  Drinks  International  Magazine  2012,  yearly  report,  Havana  Club  was  ranked   number  one  Hot  Rum  Brand  for  the  first  time,  and  even  better  became  the  

number  one  brand  in  the  Bartenders  Top  10  for  all  spirits  brands”  (WARC  Case   Study  2012:  p.5).       The  success  of  the  campaign  was  noted  and  awarded  with  the  Grand  Prix  “the   gold  standard  in  marketing  communication  effectiveness”  at  the  Euro  Effie   Awards  2012  (M&C  Saatchi  2012).  The  success  of  the  campaign  could  increase   competition  for  number  one  Hot  Rum  Brand;  Bacardi  may  encourage  their  own   heritage  or  loose  their  vague  association  with  the  Latin  heritage,  dependant  on   market  research  in  strategies  at  the  given  time.  To  encourage  further  success,   Havana  Club  could  promote  social  media  networks  on  print  media  adverts  as  a   call  to  action,  “subtly  sharing  their  brand  message  and  weaving  product   promotion”  (Kincy  2011:  p.40).           Havana  Club  were  suffering  from  being  the  second  best  Rum  globally,  in  2012   the  brand  teamed  up  with  M&C  Saatchi  agency  with  the  clear  objective  to  defend   brand  position  and  become  number  one.  The  campaign,  “Nothing  Compares  to   Havana”,  consisted  of  radio,  television,  billboard,  consumer  magazine  and   newspaper  advertising  as  well  as  PR  and  marketing  promotions.  The  success  of   the  campaign  was  evident  and  the  objectives  were  met  when  Drinks   International  published  “Hot  Rum  Brands”  2012,  with  Havana  Rum  ranking  first   place  for  the  first  time,  with  rivals  Bacardi  falling  short  to  second  place  (WARC   Case  Study  2012:  p.6).              

 

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