Boston Beer’s Samuel Adams hopes to capitalize on the continued success of the Wicked brand family in 2022, starting with its new Wicked Party Pack variety pack, featured in the company’s regional Super Bowl ad this year.
Boston Beer released its 30-second broadcast spot Friday, featuring the brewery’s “Your Cousin (from Boston)” character.
In the commercial, Your Cousin is working security at Boston Dynamics, an engineering and robotics company. Your Cousin asks Spot – one of Boston Dynamics four-legged robots – if he’d like a Samuel Adams beer, which begins a montage of Your Cousin and a crew of robots partying.
The company also released a 60-second version of the commercial on YouTube and its social channels, which shows additional antics, including Spot taking away Your Cousin’s phone so he doesn’t text his ex, and Boston Dynamics’ two-legged robot Atlas, replete with chips and scratches in his abdominal paint job from a night of carousing, committing a “party foul” by dropping a keg.
“We really wanted to find a hometown partner who shared that same creative, innovative spirit as us,” Matt Withington, Samuel Adams director of marketing, told Brewbound at a preview event Thursday. “We think that we bring great creativity in the world of beer, [Boston Dynamics] obviously brings incredible creativity in the world of robotics, and we bring those two things together in a really fun way.”
Boston Beer launched Wicked Hazy IPA in January 2021, and in the last year, it grew more than 50% compared to sales of its predecessor, New England IPA, according to Withington. The beer was featured in the company’s 2021 regional Super Bowl commercial. The spot was only broadcast in Boston and New York, and netted the company the equivalent of $15 million in earned media, Withington said.
This year’s ad will be broadcast during the game on February 13 across 13 markets: Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Knoxville, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Myrtle Beach, Nashville, New York, Orlando and Buffalo. The company will invest $2.6 million across linear TV, streaming, digital and social for this year’s Super Bowl – about 15% of the brand’s total media investment for the year, a spokesperson told Brewbound.
Additional clips will be posted to Sam’s social media channels, including footage of Your Cousin attempting to start his own robotics company, Withington said.
“What’s unique about the Super Bowl is people get excited to see the advertising, and for us, that means being part of the conversation in the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl,” he continued. “It creates an opportunity, both before the Super Bowl, during, and after to engage with fans in a really fun, creative way.”
The Wicked Party Pack features Wicked Hazy (6.8% ABV), Wicked Easy (4.7% ABV), Wicked Double (8.3% AB) and a variety-pack exclusive Wicked Tropical (6% ABV), which was added to the brand family after success at Samuel Adams taprooms, Withington said.
“What we are trying to do and what we aspire to do is invite more people into the world of great beer,” he said. “And Your Cousin from Boston, being everybody’s favorite drinking buddy, is a great way to show that great beer can be for everybody. And Wicked Party Pack, with the variety of beers that we have, there’s something in that pack for everybody.”
Two-thirds of Wicked Hazy consumers are new to the Samuel Adams brand, according to Boston Beer, citing a Numerator Panel through July 25, 2021. Withington said the company is “doubling down” on the brand this year, including introducing single-serve 19.2 oz. cans of Wicked Hazy and Wicked Double in the spring, and launching a new Wicked variety pack in the back half of the year.
The company plans to continue to lead with its Your Cousin campaigns throughout the year as well.
“Our younger drinkers, we’ve seen steady increases month after month ever since we launched the Your Cousin From Boston campaign,” Withington said. “So that just tells us that we are creating content that’s relevant that people want to share and talk about.
“We’re looking for him to organically start to come up in the cultural conversation,” he continued. “We’ve also been able to insert him into culture, whether it be our vaccine program last year, encouraging people to get vaccinated, for his job on the Red Sox, and celebrating that partnership. So we’ve just been able to insert culture in really relevant ways.”
Throughout the year, particularly in the weeks around the Super Bowl, Sam will be monitoring social media conversations about Wicked and Your Cousin to help gauge its advertising success. Withington said Your Cousin is already becoming a part of consumers’ conversations, with one making a Your Cousin snowman during the recent snowstorm that hit the Northeast, while another attempted to start a “Your Cousin for Governor” campaign.
Off-premise dollar sales of Wicked Hazy increased nearly +43%, to $13.9 million, for the 52-week period ending January 15, in NielsenIQ tracked channels (total US xAOC + liquor plus convenience), Bump Williams Consulting (BWC) shared. Wicked Hazy ranked as the No. 4 Hazy IPA, the No. 18 craft growth brand, and the No. 5 brand in the Samuel Adams family during that period.