Mambo

Case Study 01 — Mambo Chelada

BOTTLED, NOT TAMED:
Turning up the heat on brand awareness and the Mambo experience.

PROJECT FOCUS: FOOD + BEVERAGE,
RETAIL + ECOMMERCE

SCOPE

BACKGROUND

Mambo Seafood® has been serving their famous Mambo Chelada since 1996. In 2019, they bottled up their iconic fiery flavor to take the spiciest, most flavorful michelada mixer to market. But they soon found that bringing their fan favorite to consumers’ homes brought

about unexpected challenges – which prompted us to devise a campaign that truly brought the freshness, vibrance and taste of the Mambo Seafood experience home, one bottle (or pack!) at a time.

THE ASSIGNMENT

We were tasked with creating awareness of the new Mambo Chelada retail product, while also overcoming the misconception that bottled mixers lose their flavorful kick compared to scratch-made options. For the campaign, our goals were three-pronged:
– Familiarize our audience with micheladas
– Drive consumers to MamboChelada.com
– Influence consumers to purchase in-restaurant to enjoy at home

TARGET AUDIENCE

Men and women ages 21-40, primarily Hispanic and Caucasian.

STRATEGY

According to market research, if you were to ask a millennial in 2019 how they prefer to imbibe, nearly one-in-three would tell you that they prefer to drink at home. The leading reason? Because it takes too much effort to go out. That said, the same audience has an affinity for fresh ingredients filled with flavor and brightness.

EXECUTION

TAGLINE

Because Mambo Chelada prides itself on its unmistakable, pack-a-punch flavor, we built a campaign that was able to stand out – starting with the tagline. We established a distinguishable position by complementing the brand with a bold personality and strong voice.

To activate our refined strategy, we designed the creative to be confident, lively and – just a little bit – saucy (no pun intended) using attention-grabbing, visual language. Then, this tagline was applied to various touchpoints, including traditional, social and digital spaces.

OUTDOOR

Drawing inspiration from Mambo Chelada’s colorful blend of spices, heat and refreshing taste, we created a graphic language with rich illustrations, colors and an ownable art direction. This approach performed strongly in the outdoor space, garnering remarkable attention for the Mambo brand.

POSTER

We continued the visual assets in print in the form of posters, helping the Mambo Chelada team create new marketing materials. To bring character and depth to the design, we created a series of hand-lettering using the mix itself – a unique signifier that could be implemented across any medium.

DIGITAL BANNERS
(STATIC + ANIMATED)

Although the classic Mambo Chelada had been served in Mambo Seafood restaurants since the 90s, its retail form was a newcomer. So, our differentiation strategy was to focus its digital presence on the brand’s lively personality to build awareness and drive conversion.

PROMOTIONAL ITEMS

We prompted engagement in the Mambo Seafood restaurants, on social media, and beyond with promotional items including hats, t-shirts, and, of course, our signature Mambo Chelada beer mug. Sporting the Mambo Chelada branding helped spur excitement and a sense of belonging both externally with consumers and internally with members of the Mambo Chelada team.

SOCIAL MEDIA
+ CONTENT STRATEGY

To reflect the brand’s punchy attitude, we created an equally flavorful approach to social media. Our dual strategy on Instagram and Facebook was to build an engaged following of fans, while keeping Mambo Chelada top of mind with frequent posts to place its refreshing flavor front and center in feeds. We also interspersed smartly-placed calls to action to convert followers to buyers in anticipation of major gathering occasions (holidays, big sporting events, etc.).

CONSUMER EDUCATION

On the new Mambo Chelada website, we’re creating a support section with a quick how-to guide to show the ease and simplicity of making a Mambo Chelada at home. We’ve also created use extensions to show alternative ideas for the Mambo Chelada mix – from other beverages to an extra-kicked-up chicken wing recipe.

NON-TRADITIONAL

We continued telling the story with non-traditional applications that were distinctively Mambo Chelada: bold, unexpected and unbridled.

RESULTS

0 %

INCREASE IN SALES

0 %

IMPRESSIONS

0 %

increase on site visits

0 %

INCREASE IN
social engagement

MAMBO by the Numbers

The Bottled, Not Tamed campaign led to best-performing numbers for Mambo Seafood, including 15% increase in sales at the restaurants while the media was running. We made a Houston-wide impression with our outdoor creative, in particular, which garnered upwards of

8 million impressions over a 4 week period. Overall, our work on the brand helped generate a 350% increase on site visits, increase of sales and awareness of the new Mambo Chelada product and a noticeable uptick in restaurant presence, as well.

OUR NEXT STEP

The efforts to build the Mambo Chelada brand were so successful that we were given the opportunity to build the new Mambo Chelada website – an immersive experience that authentically captures the spirit of the brand. Here’s a sneak peek of what’s to come: