SHS Drinks supports WKD with a £2 million campaign

SHS Drinks is supporting WKD with a £2 million campaign.

The campaign begins this month with ad support running throughout the remainder of 2024. The 48-sheet and six-sheet posters will be complemented by 96-sheet sites which will create additional interest in high traffic areas in prime locations.

The strategy behind the campaign is to reinforce consumer recognition of WKD as ‘the original and best’ RTD, with all executions focusing solely on the lead WKD Blue variant.

The posters are designed to talk to a key 18-21 demographic. The language the ads use will connect with the target audience, whilst leaving others puzzled as to the true meaning. The lead execution states ‘CEO of Blueness’, referencing how young people use the term ‘CEO of’ to mean ‘what you’re known for’.

Parodying Instagram images, another execution shows both the front and blank back of a bottle of WKD and states ‘Front Shot for the Poster/Rear Shot for the Gram’; another ad declares ‘Pure Blue Aura’, which is a term inferring how cool something is and meaning here that WKD Blue is really cool.

The nationwide poster campaign will be supplemented by 30-second ads on Spotify. In addition, by the end of October, 150,000 bottles of WKD will have been given away to the brand’s target market – in student halls of residence and selected workplaces.

Alison Gray, head of brand – WKD at SHS Drinks, says: “Our bold and forthright ad campaign will raise brand awareness from the all-important start of the new university term right through to the key festive period. We’re making a significant investment to engage consumers and grow additional throughputs for stockists.

“Our posters will raise smiles amongst our target audience, sales amongst our customer base, and maybe even a little confusion amongst those not young enough (or young-at-heart enough) to be up to speed with the latest street-slang. Those who we want to ‘get it’ will definitely ‘get it’, those who don’t need to get it, probably won’t! WKD is, and always has been, the CEO of Blueness and this campaign allows us to proudly proclaim that – and a whole lot more – to a receptive consumer audience.”