Male Opps: Kona Brewing rebrands, launches campaign (Score 41)

Sales Lead: To kick off the summer, AB InBev-owned Kona Brewing Company recently rolled out a brand refresh complete with a new name, Kona Big Wave.

• Along with the new name, the brand refresh includes an updated logo and product packaging.
• A corresponding campaign, "Bring the Aloha," involves four spots that rolled out across channels such as paid social media and OOH.
  • Duncan Channon, Kona's creative and digital AOR, developed this campaign.
  • A contest will also run throughout the summer.
• Long-term, AB InBev is focused on expanding Kona beyond the craft beer space and making it more of a competitor in the premium beer category.
• The brand will likely:
  • Ramp up spend to support the launch
  • Seek additional brand-specific agency partner
• Target demographic: 
  • ​​​​​​​Millennials and Gen-X with a strong male skew

Recent promotions:

• To support this rebrand, AB InBev promoted global Corona innovation and branded content director Meredith Ruskin to Kona US marketing VP in January 2023.
  • The same month, the company also promoted Kona brand director Vanessa Bennett and Kona commercial brand director Karolyn Hubbs (Simon).

Additional spending insights:

• Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: So far this year, Kona has spent approximately $1.1m on national TV commercials, a massive increase from the approximately $1.6k spent within the same 2022 timeframe.
  • Last year: The brand ended up spending around $194.9k on this channel in 2022 after having spent much less, around $6.3k, in 2021.
  • 2023 ad programming: Kona's 2023 commercials have targeted male sports enthusiasts watching shows such as AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour, Beach Volleyball, MLB Baseball, NHL Hockey, and World Poker Tour.
• Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: The brand has allocated roughly $342.4k on digital ads YTD, only about a quarter of the roughly $1.2m allocated by this point last year.
  • YTD data: Since the beginning of 2023, Kona has earned ~27.4m digital impressions via YouTube (80%), Facebook (19%), and Instagram (1%) ads.
  • Last year: The brand's estimated full-year 2022 spend decreased by % to $4.1m from that of $5.1m in 2021.
• Additional channel insights  
  • The brand utilizes Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and online video (via Youtube.com) ads.
  • Kona also establishes sports sponsorships with teams such as the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Additional agency insights:

• Opportunity: AB InBev may seek additional agency partners to help bolster awareness of Kona's new look.
• Current agency roster:
  • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Duncan Channon: Creative and digital AOR
  • Space150: Social AOR

Insight Sources: Broadcast insights estimated by iSpot; digital spend insights estimated by Pathmatics; additional channel insights estimated by Vivvix; sponsorship insights by Relo Metrics.