Canadian spirits brand Iceberg Vodka is looking to generate goodwill through togetherness and emotional connection, eschewing nightlife and lifestyle cues that are typical category conventions.
The “Foraging Deeper Connections” campaign launched this month in partnership with King Street Media and features the heart-to-heart conversations of real-life parents and children, couples and friends as they open up to each other.
The rollout positions Iceberg Vodka as a catalyst for deeper conversations.
“Canadians are looking for real connections now more than ever,” Karen Lai Drake, senior brand manager at Iceberg Vodka, says in a reference to the tech-obsessed modern world. “Now, more than ever, we need that human connection.”
The timing for the launch of “Foraging Deeper Connections” was designed to lead in to summer, but Lai Drake says it’s a lucky coincidence that the timing lines up with the current “Buy Canadian” moment. The fully digital campaign was built around Iceberg’s identity as an independent, with roots in Canada.
And according to Lai Drake, a surge in Canadian consumer pride that Iceberg began tracking during the onset of COVID-19 was reignited after the Trump administration began fomenting a trade war in recent weeks.
“We are 100% Canadian owned and operated,” Lai Drake says, adding that Iceberg has “always wrapped itself in the idea that we’re Canadian.”
King Street Media, the brand’s AOR, led the end-to-end execution, from creative ideation to production and ad buys.
“We don’t have the big budget of the big names,” Lai Drake says, adding that the campaign’s cost-conscious media strategy focused on social and programmatic buys.
Iceberg also partnered with micro-influencers and creators from TikTok and Instagram in an effort to feature stories that are relatable to Gen Z, millennial and Gen X audiences.
