Nutrl is being silly, clever and simple with a new campaign.

In its spot, Saturday Night Live cast member Chloe Fineman portrays vodka sommelier Günter, who points out in a comical German accent that the umlaut on the Nutrl branding is the only thing in the can that isn’t “necessary.”

Company founder Paul Meehan tells strategy the spot reflects the brand’s quick-witted creative approach, as comedy is a very powerful tool in terms of connecting with audiences. But so is simplicity, which is why the key message is about the three key ingredients in Nutrl: vodka, seltzer and real juice.

This respects what consumers are looking for, Meehan stresses, and meeting people’s needs accurately when it comes to what is in the product.

For Nutrl, it’s differentiation has largely been around being being low calorie, but also its sleekness and looking good in the hand, something beer brands like Corona and Stella Artois already understand, Meehan says.

The Nutrl beverage has been a fixture in the Canadian market for six years and Meehan attributes the company’s success to pushing its message of “no sugar, no carbs and no preservatives,” effectively outspending the competition on the marketing front and being the only truly national vodka player in Canada.

“The reason we are national is we invested and we sponsored Hockey Night in Canada,” Meehan says, adding that it heavily invested in the space when other brands were reticent to do so. That approach can now be seen as the brand attempts to get an even stronger foothold south of the border.

In 2020, Labatt Breweries of Canada acquired Goodridge & Williams Distillery, including its Nutrl brand, expanding AB InBev’s “beyond beer” portfolio. The company’s above core portfolio and non-beer brands now represent over 40% of its revenue.

British Columbia-founded Nutrl was born in social media and built a “fervent fanbase” before expanding more broadly to other platforms. According to Meehan, the growth of ready-to-drink has made AB InBev very supportive in helping the brand make further inroads into the U.S. market, where he says it is currently leading the category as the fastest growing spirits-based seltzer in volume, nationally.

“The One with the Umlaut.” is an integrated, national campaign that will roll out across the United States on connected TV, digital, OOH, social, radio and retail throughout 2023. The brand partnered with Starcom to develop and execute the US media buy.

The campaign represents the largest standalone campaign Nutrl has ever done, marked with a major investment behind March Madness broadcasts stateside. The Martin Agency created the campaign, with Meehan’s own team handling the Canadian adaptation. Veritas is providing local public relations support, Dentsu the Canadian buy.