Beam Suntory: Ridiculous! How -196 defied the hottest trends to become Beam Suntory’s most successful launch ever.

Australian beverage brand Beam Suntory ran a launch campaign for its -196 ready-to-drink (RTD) product to grow value and volume sales and market share.

Executive Summary

From summer ale to seltzer, "innovation" in the drinks industry usually just means jumping on the latest bandwagon. But not in the case of -196.

This isn't just the story of a new product, but a distinctive new brand that turned category convention on its head and turned Aussies onto an obscure shochu drink that was "big in Japan", but unknown here.

In one year the 'Extreme Japanese Spirit' campaign helped -196 overtake 'White Claw' to become the no.3 Light RTD, making it  Beam Suntory Australia's most successful launch ever.

Or as our ads would put it:...

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