‘Bringing them back to beer’: We Are Social wins Lion pitch, accepts youth challenge

Lion has appointed We Are Social as its social agency of record following a competitive pitch process, which will see it work across iconic beer brands XXXX, Hahn, Tooheys, Kirin Ichiban, and Kirin Hyoketsu.

Speaking to Mumbrella, We Are Social’s chief strategy officer, Rich Parker, said social was the “missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle” for Lion’s “incredibly disciplined” marketing team.

“They were looking at how social could fit into the broader set of tactics they’re using. Basically they want to bring social up to a maturity level that is aligned to the rest of its marketing,” he said.

“So that’s the goal, to not just do some little bits of fluff on social, but to actually leverage it as another disciplined marketing channel.”

(Midjourney/Mumbrella)

The agency will provide a social-first approach to content creation, community management, and campaign execution.

The biggest opportunity, according to Parker, is renewing the cultural relevance of some of Australia’s favourite brands.

“They’re already famous brands, they’ve got so much heritage. So now its about maintaining their relevance, boosting their relevance into a new generation,” he said.

“Brands like XXXX and Tooheys have a huge amount of history in the market, and there are a lot of people who are already big fans, so what we’re looking to do initially is tap into that existing passion and fandom and find ways to amplify it.

“That’s exciting, that’s what I’m looking forward to.”

We Are Social will work with the existing brand platforms that the Lion team and its other agency partners have developed, and extend them or “bring them to life” on social.

Parker also aknowledged that consumer behaviour has shifted, with younger people drinking less alcohol. He regarded that as a challenge rather than a problem.

“We’ve got to lean into it, we’ve got to look at which brands are best placed to engage with a younger audience and bring them back into beer — obviously within ABAC [Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code] guidelines, so we won’t be talking to under 25s,” he said.

Chris Allan, connections director at Lion, said We Are Social is a “great fit” for the business as the agency has “awesome talent and proven creativity for consumer impact”.

“We’re excited about the partnership and the vision we share to connect Lion’s iconic brands with consumers across the dynamic social landscape,” he said in a media release on Thursday.

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Lauren McNamara

Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the creative and PR beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.

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topics beer Chris Allan Hahn Kirin Hyoketsu Kirin Ichiban lion Richard parker social Tooheys We Are Social XXXX

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