At a time when tequila sales are growing and there isn’t a shortage of recent brands within the space, 818 Tequila has found success by hooking into cultural moments and committing to sustainability initiatives. Having a celebrity founder in Kendall Jenner hasn’t hurt either: The reality star also serves because the brand’s chief creative officer.
Since launching in 2021, the brand has expanded quickly and now has a presence in 34 countries. Along the way in which, it has built a powerful presence on social media, change into an authorized B Corporation and connected with Gen Z through a powerful presence at Coachella and by putting its own spin on social media-driven trends just like the espresso martini.
“Part of that [growth] is a testament to the indisputable fact that we have created greater than only a liquid,” said Chief Marketing Officer Kathleen Braine. “We’ve created a brand that has really resonated with our goal consumer.”
Conscientious consumption
While recent data from Statista shows that Gen Z consumers are drinking less alcohol, 818 Tequila has found a solution to construct a relationship with this health-conscious, environmentally-minded, experience-loving demographic, including by dropping prices a 12 months ago to make the range cheaper for its core consumers.
The brand’s audience also loves social media. And despite not having the ability to promote the brand on TikTok because of the platform’s rules around how alcohol is advertised, 818 Tequila remains to be the most-talked about tequila brand there and the most-followed tequila brand on Instagram, per data shared by the brand.
On the ecological front, 818 has implemented various green measures, like using sustainable packaging — from glass to corks to labels, repurposing agave waste into infrastructure and community projects in Mexico, using energy-efficient solar energy and biomass within the production process, and practicing regenerative agriculture to rework agave fields into biodiverse farms.
Connecting with Gen Z over the environment is significant as over 90% of Gen Z desires to buy from sustainable firms, with over three-quarters willing to pay more for these products, in accordance with the PDI Business of Sustainability Index.
Tequila 818 tries to go a step further in its messaging to deal with how Gen Z wants not only to make sure what they’re buying was created in a way that’s not hurting the Earth, but that environmental awareness also extends to their very own wellness and health, a serious priority for the generation.
“[Gen Z views] consumption in terms of wanting to know what you are putting in your body and the way it’s made,” Braine said.
Connecting online and offline
Outside of talking up how the products are made, the brand’s marketing messaging focuses on other areas of interest for Gen Z.
For instance, knowing that music festivals are a serious attraction for Gen Z and millennials, 818 Tequila has been involved in Coachella for the last three years. The latest incarnation involved constructing a mini pop-up Western town where consumers could have the “influencer experience.” Invitations were arrange on its Instagram account, with 1,000 spots reserved inside quarter-hour of opening. Overall, the activation drove 1.3 billion social impressions and 90,000 social mentions.
“The surround sound activities of the festival change into often as vital because the festival itself,” Braine said.
The brand also keeps a tab on topical conversations and moments where it might probably insert itself in a way that is smart.
Take the espresso martini, which is having a resurgence in popularity amongst younger generations. For a recent collaboration with Chamberlain Coffee, founded by influencer Emma Chamberlain, the duo released a kit for making the drink, which sold out inside 4 hours and was featured on menus in restaurants and bars. The partnership received greater than 315 million social impressions and 1.6 billion earned media impressions.
The brand has its eye on other trends it might probably capitalize on as well. For example, it partnered with Rao’s Homemade earlier this 12 months to herald tequila as an ingredient consumers can use within the kitchen when making pasta sauce.
“Not only do now we have a web based community, now we have an offline community,” Braine said.
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