Taiwan Beer engages female consumers with a second bite of 'puppy love'

McCann Worldgroup Taiwan helped Taiwan Beer on a digital campaign last year, but earlier this year, the agency won the integrated marketing business for Sweet Touch and Green Apple fruit beer, two flavoured beers that launched last year and in late May, respectively. United Advertising is the creative agency for Taiwan Beer's Gold Medal lager.

Gary Chi, McCann Taiwan's managing director, said that Taiwan Beer has captured 80 per cent of the existing beer market in Taiwan, and thus needs to add young drinkers in order to grow. 

Flavoured beer is a small but growing segment in the country; last year, Japanese beer brands Suntory and Kirin launched fruit-flavoured beer products in the market.

Sweet Touch and Green Apple are part of the company's marketing initiative to rejuvenate the Taiwan Beer brand with innovative new products. The new offerings target 18- to 29-year-old female consumers.

The creative rationale behind the campaign, Chi said, is connecting the fresh, sweet, and sour taste of green apple to puppy love, and offering the target audience a second bite of puppy love.

Chen Yi Han (陳意涵), a popular actress in Taiwan’s youth-oriented TV dramas, has been the brand ambassador for Taiwan Beer since last year. She appears in the 20-second TVC and micro movies in order to engage with the young female target audience and enhance the viral element of the campaign.

In the six micro movies created by McCann, titled ‘Magic mirror’, Chen and her boyfriend (in a comical Green Apple head) act out six different types of puppy love relationships. Viewers can watch the videos on the dedicated site and YouTube and do a brief personality test to find out which scenarios are most closely related to them.

McCann handles both the creative and media executions. The campaign runs throughout Taiwan until the end of July.