It was an understanding of dancehall culture that helped a Toronto agency secure the business of a Trinidad and Tobago-based brewery.
Berners Bowie Lee created a new campaign for tonic wine brand Rockstone that taps reggae icon Stephen Marley, as well as other dancehall and soca artists.
Parent company Carib Brewery was looking for “big platform thinking” and “big ideas” for Rockstone tonic wine, says BBL’s founding partner and creative Devon Williamson, something along the lines of Johnny Walker’s “Keep Walking” campaign,
Tonic wine’s roots are in dancehall culture, and the drink is fortified with extracts from the maca root – a form of ginseng with a reputation for being an energy booster – as well as Bois Bandé, a bark root with supposed aphrodisiac properties.
The drink’s tagline and brand platform is “reach for the longtime.” Michael Murray, co-founder and CCO of Berners Bowie Lee, this drink will help you last, “whatever you want to do.”
“It’s implied, without being overtly sexual,” he says.
The overall positioning was informed by something more innocent: the idea that people were feeling pressured to achieve life milestones, despite the laid-back culture of the Caribbean. Hence, the idea was to give people all the time they want.
“Reaching the Longtime,” therefore, frames a key product benefit as something money can’t buy: more time for late nights at the club, listening to music and dancing with friends, speaking to a target of blue collar men.
The campaign was shot in Montreal for a soft launch and also shot in Los Angeles and Miami, with a rollout coming to the Caribbean, then five other markets thereafter.
The brand platform launched in OOH and social with candid shots featuring Marley and other artists as they recorded tracks well into the night, with Rockstone subtly placed in each shot.
“We are really mindful about how subtly we can weave in the product and the product benefit,” Murray says.
According to Williamson, the shop did not want to the campaign to seem staged and wanted the music culture to really stand out, even working with a photographer who’d worked with the legendary Marley family prior.
The campaign also features an associated track featuring soca artist Skinny Fabulous, and others. Berners Bowie Lee worked with hip-hop music video director Gil Green and Walshy Fire from Major Lazer to seed the track on social and on TV. There is also a choreographed dance for the track, promoted with TikTok influencers and well-known DJs to seed it into the dancehall.
Murray tells strategy that the agency won the RFP through its understanding of cultural shifts, in addition to the work it’s done prior in the beverage space. “It was important to understand the culture around dancehall, and what was going on in the lives of people.”
According to Williamson, the agency had to pay particular attention to the unique cultural nuances of each country in the region. For example, the Rockstone graphics pay tribute to the key market of Jamaica, but also a touch of red to honour Carib Brewery’s Trinidadian roots.
Also, it was important to understand subtle distinctions between how dating works in, say, more conservative Saint Kitts than it does in Trinidad and Tobago.
