AdMiration feature: Kahlúa’s “Feliz St. Patrick’s Day”

For this week’s AdMiration feature, we researched Kahlúa’s “Feliz St. Patrick’s Day” ad. 

Kahlúa challenges the status quo with this unexpected (and highly entertaining) advertisement. While St. Patrick’s wouldn’t typically be thought of as the time of year for a Kahlúa espresso martini, the brand's choice to drive awareness and consideration during a seasonal moment really pays off based on consumer reaction. 

Read on to get our 3-2-1 snapshot of the ad (3 facts, 2 learnings and 1 reflection) and learn how their ad was received based on our data.

The ad opens to the scene of a quaint pub sitting in the Irish countryside, where a duo is playing live folk music while a man walks in and asks for “a glass of the usual.” The bartender pours what appears to be a dark and creamy beverage, very similar to what others are drinking at the pub, but everyone stops in shock as they observe what the man ordered. 

With his beverage in hand, he turns around and cheekily confronts the astounded spectators, saying, “What’s wrong with ye? Ye’ve never seen a lad sip an espresso martini on St. Patrick’s Day?” After a short pause he receives a big cheer and the folk music resumes. 

The ad concludes with a clip of an espresso martini placed in front of a pint of stout and a final message alongside the image of a Kahlúa bottle that reads “Feliz St. Patrick’s Day.”

3 facts

• The ad scores in the top 25% in potential to drive immediate sales and is more effective than over half of UK ads in driving brand equity and long-term sales.

• The story is highly captivating, humorous and ends in an unexpected twist, which keeps viewers emotionally engaged throughout with multiple peaks of surprise, love and laughter.

• People find the ad highly unique and it drives significant purchase uplift, starting with only 3% of people who would choose the brand before seeing the ad and ending with 22% after seeing the ad. 

2 learnings

• Staying topical and advertising during holidays, seasonal moments or events can drive significant brand awareness and engagement when there is a good brand fit. 

• Leveraging the spirit of those moments to convey functional and/or emotional product benefits is a great way to drive positive association for a brand.

1 reflection

Is your brand driving the status quo or is it challenging it? There is both merit and elements to gain from both, but by challenging the norm there is an arguably higher reward — especially for smaller players. Doing things differently can drive higher levels of differentiation for a brand and generate mental availability across a wider range of occasions where it may not have previously been present.

When it comes to St. Patrick’s Day, stout (particularly Guinness) is the reigning beverage. Kahlúa’s ad shines a light on the fact that people should be able to celebrate the special day with whatever drink they might fancy — in this case a Kahlúa espresso martini! 

Challenging the dominant presence of a reigning brand makes for a truly unique ad, which yielded scores significantly above the norm on distinctiveness (3.9 vs 3.6). 

The ad also scores in the top 25% in potential to drive immediate sales (Sales Impact: 78) and is more effective than over half of UK ads in driving brand equity and long-term sales (Brand Impact: 54). 

The message is relayed in a playful way, eliciting a laughter reaction significantly above average (24% vs 6%) which contributes to the strong overall emotion score (54% vs 41% norm). Beyond those funny moments, the ad also drives peaks of surprise and love that further contribute to its outperformance in emotional intensity (13.6 vs 12.1 norm). 

And people absolutely loved the joy the ad brings! The music sets the tone from the start, showcasing a sense of authenticity and inviting the audience in. The reactions from the pub regulars were thoroughly enjoyed and the twist at the end was the cherry on top. 

Here’s what some of our respondents liked most:

• "The music and the atmosphere of the pub as well as the comedy of that dying down when they realize what drink it is. The acceptance that you don't just have to drink Guinness on St Patrick's Day."

• "The ambiance and authenticity of the scene, the fact he can be non conformist. I like Kahlua and espresso martinis."

• "It was very jolly, the pub looked good, the people were having a good time, and the choice of drink was a twist."

• "The unseriousness of it all and the humor that was portrayed. The reminder that St. Patrick's Day is around the corner and it is not all about drinking Guinness."

• "The tension when the regulars realized he wasn’t drinking stout, broken by a joke and a laugh"

• "I loved the music, and Arthur's very cheeky glint in his eyes. I've heard a lot about this drink. And never tried it. I think I need to."

Despite being highly distinctive, well loved, and eliciting a strong emotional reaction from viewers, the brand was not as well recalled when compared to the average UK ad. 

Half of the audience spontaneously recalled Kahlúa as the advertised brand vs a UK norm of 72%. It could be assumed that there was misattribution to the Guinness brand since the ad alludes to it on various occasions; however, only 7% of people thought it was an ad for Guinness. 

On the other hand, 10% of the audience thought it was an ad for an “espresso martini” which is actually a positive for the brand overall. When focusing on the usage occasion, particularly being a spirit that is typically consumed as an ingredient in a cocktail, it’s natural to lose some brand presence.

But this didn’t deter from the ad’s strong performance when it comes to generating a sales uplift. As we mentioned before, prior to watching the ad, only 3% of respondents would have picked Kahlúa the next time they were shopping for spirits, and after watching the ad this shot up to 22% — an uplift significantly higher than the norm for UK ads.

In challenging the status quo of St. Patrick’s Day, a brand like Kahlúa had very little to lose and so much to gain. And gain they did with great consumer feedback and a considerable shift in brand consideration!

What did you think? Let us know by interacting with our coverage of the ad on LinkedIn.

To make sure you never miss one of our AdMiration analyses, subscribe to our LinkedIn newsletter.