Who: Moosehead Breweries (Twisted Tea brand), with Arrivals + Departures for strategy and creative, Media Experts for media.

What: “Fancy a Twist,” A+D’s first campaign for Twisted Tea after winning the assignment earlier this year. It is inspired by consumers’ pent up demand to play and socialize after the pandemic, and aligns with the playful personality of the brand itself.

When & Where: The English Canada campaign debuted on July 11 and runs through the summer across TV/online video, paid social, out-of-home, and in-stadium CFL executions tapping into its status as the league’s “Official ready to drink beverage.” It is also being supported by a “robust” retail and sampling program.

Why: Julia Glynn, senior brand manager of Twisted Tea, said the brand is rich in both social currency and personality, but has “significant runway” to grow brand awareness and penetration in Canada.

The new creative platform follows a “strategic audit” of Twisted Tea that identified insights important to drinkers in the RTD category, and is inspired by the fact that people are beginning to slowly return to a pre-pandemic life after two years of not seeing friends, etc.

“A lot of people are coming out of their home and getting together, and recognizing that those moments of connectivity are not only long overdue, but good for the soul,” said Jeff McEachern, chief creative officer at A+D, which has worked extensively with Moosehead over the years on brands including Angry Orchard, Truly Hard Seltzer, and Sam Adams.

How: The creative is built around a recurring character who embodies Twisted Tea’s good-natured, confident, and unexpected character. He’s the life of the party, but decidedly less in your-face than rival brand Mike’s Hard Lemonade’s new spokesperson “Lemon Buff.”

“He’s that friend we all have that’s going to get us all out again, that’s going to make us realize there’s more than just sitting in on Zoom calls with friends and Netflix,” explained McEachern. The character was inspired by contemporary artists from the realm of music, including Tyler, The Creator, Oliver Tree and Lady Gaga. “They tend to embrace fashion that is somewhat unique to them that is a little off and not something everyday people would wear,” said McEachern.

Two 15-second spots, “Game Night” and “House Party,” feature the character making up lyrics to instantly recognizable pieces of music including “Beethoven’s 5th Symphony and “The House of the Rising Sun.” “There is a house party tonight. And it’s not BYOB,” he sings to the music of The House of The Rising Sun. “But you don’t know the host, they’re a friend of a friend, so I bring your own Twisted Tea.” The character is also featured in out-of-home ads.

And we quote: “We know Canadians love the beverage already, but there’s a lot of people still don’t know the depth of Twisted Tea’s sense of humour and light-hearted personality, we wanted to make sure that our creative was full of entertainment and really hooks in audiences.” — Jeff MacEachern, chief creative officer, Arrivals + Departures