Kingfisher Ultra is a beer brand manufactured & marketed by United Breweries, India’s largest beer marketer.
United Breweries reached out to me for the launch of their new speciality beer called Witbier - under their flagship brand, Kingfisher Ultra. Witbier is the first craft beer rolled out by the company because of their growing popularity in metro cities.
Creative Strategy
Create a weekly webcomic series that captures slice of life moments relatable to the average urban indian, which are to be floated on Ultra’s Instagram and Facebook pages. Ultra should not be over-advertised, with brand integration as a subtle element.
KF Ultra Brand Personality:
Youthful
Aspirational
Stylish
Confident
Open minded
Witty
1. Identifying goal
What are we trying to accomplish here?
We’re not looking for lead generation or to capture sales, the core intent is brand awareness through storytelling.
We wanted to make the reader fall in love with the characters and become invested in them overtime, and thereby be invested in the brand.
2. Research
Who is our Target audience and what are they like?
Average urban men and women from 21-35 years living in India’s top tier cities.
Who are our competitors?
The Indian market has seen a rise of craft beer brands that appeal to urban millennials with light brews and hip branding. Eventhough KF dominated marketshare, Bira91 is also popular with millennials – since Kingfisher has been around for longer, they also enjoy a larger reach with the older demographic. As a result, brands such as Bira, Simba, The White Owl were Ultra’s craft beer counterparts.
3. Inspiration
Collecting pieces of imagery, text or anything at all that awakens ideas within, keeping in mind the larger brand identity.
We drew inspiration from other witty, youthful comics such as Dilbert, Corporat comics and Brownpaperbags, as simplicity with office humour was the sweet spot. Since the goal was reaching the general working public, we focused on relatable concepts and nothing too cerebral & political.
4. Conceptualisation
The concept revolves around two main characters who are office colleagues who work in a typical corporate firm. Whilst their office environment is toxic and capitalistic, it's in stark contrast with the nature of its characters who's unlikely friendship is playful, sassy and empathetic. The key storytelling feature of the comic being their commentary on the various comical and relatable scenarios that take place in the office (or while working from home).
Character Bio:
Main Characters:
AJ (Project manager) : 32. Smartest guy in the room but always runs everything by Vijay cause he values his opinions. Patiently listens to complaints everyday and likes by throwing parties with company money. Carefree, friendly, approachable, funny.
Nick (the IT guy) : In his mid 20s. Always has headphones on to avoid conversation with others in the office. Never looks away from his screen or stops coding. Only speaks when spoken to and answers nonchalantly with minimal usage of words. Unfazed by the events of the office and does not care to participate, but he's the only one who waters the plants. Keeps the airconditioning dangerously low and wears a hoodie to office. Likes and respects Ebby but wont show it.
Environment Design:
The setting shuttles between office, WFH & the bar. We kept the environment design open-ended, meaning it would change depending on current situation because we released the comics at an unpredictable time and it's best to adapt accordingly.
5. Execution
6. Revisions & Improvements
Checking in with both agency and client regularly to ensure that the project hitting the right communication zone and always in alignment with brand’s personality.
Monitor response and feedback from audience after going live with first set of comics and making changes accordingly. The campaign ran successfully for 4 months with 9 comics gathering over 3L engagements each.
