Beck's - folge deinem inneren Kompass - Follow your inner compass

Not every path in life is your path...

actually there is only one.              

One path that feels right.              

That nobody took before:              

Your path.              

Everyone can walk his own path,  as it lays in you.              

Just follow your inner compass.              

You will be surprised where it will lead you to.

Beck's. Follow your inner compass.

The vantage point for the compass: 

The Beck's ship from 1992 - 2011

In order to extend and move further from their already contiunuous, well established image, the German beer brand Beck's launched its new campaign "Folge deinem inneren Kompass" in April 2012. 

Initially to the newly launched campaign, Beck's was immediately associated with its campaign "Sail away - The Beck's experience" which sticked around for more than ten years. This campaign was centered around the green-flagged Beck's ship sailing the nordic waters. 

In 1992 it was still Joe Cocker's original song "Sail away" that delivered the typical soundtrack for the Beck's sailing cruise. During the time however, the whole campaign got a heavy rejuvenating make-over, turning it into a young version of the Beck's experience which satisfactorily served its duty until:
 - once and for all - something splashy, edgy and unmistakably young came along - Beck's inner compass.

Freedom, Individualism, Music, Arts, Lifestyle.

 

Serving the full package:

As I could see in my city of studies Berlin, among the target group, the young, fashionable, urban individualists (or those who want to be it), the spread of "the Compass" is beyond recall.
In my eyes the campaign links to the full package of the "cool and busy" lifestyle. It focusses on attributes like independence, an intercultural and diverse lifestyle which is preferredly depicted in an urban sourrounding - from Berlin to New York, crossing London, back to Berlin. A varied blend of fashion, music, cultures and arts presented and embodied by various artists especially reflects this image the brand intends to be identified with.
However, the typical Beck's ship has not been abandoned competely. Marketing director Fabienne Rollot states:

"Internationally seen, the ship doesn't play a big role, but for the Germans it is still an important  component." 

especially the older target group likes to stick to the brand from the northern coast which is drunk on a sailing cruise -and everywhere else. That might be the reason why the television commercial terminates by showing the ship, however, regarding the complete campaign, television is surely just one part of the picture and in most other components of the campaign the ship loses the battle to urbanized, arty lifestyle.

Music and arts in...

1. online and social media marketing

Beck's has always been partnering up and sponsoring bands and festivals. Now, according to my opinion, Beck's smartly incorporated that activity into their campaign. Featuing quite edgy, individualistic and still broadly appealing artists definitely fits well into the picture. Artists present themselves, perform or exhibit via the Beck's website, where a whole new category was created:  Beck's inspiration. This is linked with facebook, Twitter, youtube,... The campaign was forseen to a heavily engage in the field of Web 2.0 and to me, Beck's succeeds to serve it all in a very appropriate and appealing way. Especially Facebook and Youtube are highly targeted and fed. 

The artists can be beatboxers, rockbands, DJs, grafiti artists, fotographers or deisgners - some well known, some from their respective scene, but all reflecting the independent, urban lifestyle.

2. actions, installations and special editions

What is definitely a successful move in the course of the "folge deinem inneren Kompass" campaign is the launch of the special edition "Beck's art label", designed and advertised by five diverent artists from diverse fields. It is the current move in the compass campaign. It perfectly embodies the fresh, innovative and independent message. The artists are (from left to right):

• M.I.A.:             english singer and artist with Indian roots
• Seeed:              multinational Reggae Band, typically from Berlin
• Blocparty:         indie-rockband from England, living in New York
• Boys Noize:      electro DJ from Berlin
• Anton Corbijn:  Dutch photographer and regisseur 

The special editions are not only marketed online, there are also free postcards spread in selected locations like scene bars, clubs and cafés. They are mainly allocated in cities like Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Munich: 

Additionally, something new to me is forseen to be employed like for the previous campaigns: the so called CLP-mover, which is a remote-controlled billboard, as if by magic gliding down the pedestrian zone. That is definitely fresh and young...

And here -last but not least- comes my personal favorite I am sad to have missed out on: The Sound fence.

It is an installation covering a general construction fence, depicting a billboard, with a built-in soundsystem. Here passing pedestrians can plugg in their headphones and listen to five exclusive songs - in the case of the Berlin installation it was (fitting Berlin's city image) electro by Boys Noize. 

 

Conclusion

In my eyes, the new campaign "Folge deinem inneren Kompass" has it all and is definitely a worthy successor for its widely loved "daddy campaign" Sail away (the ship has been inherited afterall). According to my opinion, it succeeds in bringing the new and young while combining it smartly with the successful old. Additionally, it combines many channels to comunicate the message, to spread the news, and chose a smart proportion for each - centering on online and social media marketing. 

Cheers and Prost to the inner compass!