Today at the launch party at the Sundance Film Festival 2013 in Park City, Utah, its official sponsor, classic Belgian beer brand Stella Artois has unveiled the photographs shot by renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz as part of the new campaign called «Timeless Beauty».
Stella Artois
Each year ahead of Christmas, Stella Artois, the beer brand connected with the holiday due to its history, unveils some special gifts to its loyal fans. To help people spread the merry spirit this year, Stella Artois US launched the Holiday Carole application on its Facebook page, which allows everyone to send a unique gift “that melds timeless elegance with modern technological sophistication to create a truly unparalleled experience.” The brand created a video, in which a beautiful lady named Carole sings a holiday song to nobody else but you, the receiver of the video gift. Stella Artois fans also can go to the dedicated page on its website to enjoy the experience.
This summer, Stella Artois is promoting its cider with a pinch of French atmosphere and reference to one of the most stylish game, bowles. On the Stella Artois UK Facebook page, the brand has kicked off a new sweepstakes, inviting its fans to win a limited edition boules kit (C’est boules. Not bowls) for great night out with friends. The competition, which is open for the UK residents, is running through the end of summer, the submission period closes on August 31.
As a long-time sponsor of the Cannes Film Festival, each spring Stella Artois launches a new activity dedicated to the major film event. Earlier this month, the lager brand offered its UK consumers an opportunity to watch a film online by entering a code from a promotional pack, and now it’s inviting its fans from around the globe to visit the virtual Stella Artois Cannes Cinema Club, which is “designed to support exceptional cinema, provide unique cinematic experiences and ultimately keep the sophistication and beauty of cinema alive.”
The biggest cinema fan in the beer family, Stella Artois in partnership with film platform MUBI is kicking off another project revolving around the cinematic theme, which comes as an addition to a range of similar initiatives launched in the previous years. The new project is not related to the Cannes Film Festival as might be expected (being the official sponsor of the event, each year the brand launches a campaign ahead of the festival, which is traditionally hosted in May), and is more like a spin-off of a successful initiative, launched by the brand in summer 2011.
Stella Artois, the beer brand, which traditionally integrates the French cinema aesthetic of the 60s into its advertising projects (the series of ‘She is a thing of beauty’ adverts and the King of Cannes competition are just a few examples), is now digging deeper into the past and pays tribute to the rich over 600-year history of brewing in Belgium, the brand’s motherland. This time, Stella Artois makes the Chalice the key element of the new outdoor advertising campaign in the UK—the iconic beer glass, the signature image of the brand, has been incorporated in the promotional projects before, but it hasn’t been the key image as the ads were rather focusing on the brand’s 9-step pouring ritual and visual style of people and environment.
With Christmas arriving in less than two months, brands which are associated with this holiday most have a great opportunity to come on the forefront of promotional activity in winter. Beer is not likely to be the symbol of Christmas and doesn’t relate to it in any way, but Stella Artois does. The history of Anheuser-Busch InBev‘s lager brand roots deeply in this holiday (Stella means star in Latin, for the iconic Christmas star), and that’s why Stella Artois always have something in stock to surprise its fans for Christmas, from digital eco-cards to divine advertising. Just like Starbucks did in early 2011 celebrating Chinese New Year, Stella is releasing an exclusive eight-track holiday EP dubbed Under The Holiday Star to contribute to the festive spirit all across the globe.