DeLeón is a brand with a vast amount of momentum, which is accompanied by an assured opportunity to define their personality and role in the booming spirits category that is tequila. Although DeLeón has practiced patience to delineate their individuality within the tequila sector, an unfortunately frequent misconception in the marketing industry is that patience can be terminal for a brand. If practiced thoughtfully and meticulously, patience can enable a brand to come into its own more effectively than any other strategic device. DeLeón was patient when defining who they wanted to be; our job was to provide a fresh vision and execution on the Brand’s ‘coming out’ in the industry.
The tequila industry, over the past couple of years, is arguably the most rapidly growing sector of spirits in a very long time. This results in a massively diluted market, exploiting brands that struggle to fundamentally separate themselves, and brands who use the copy & paste method from past success in the industry. All this cannibalization provides a colossal opportunity for a brand to make a splash. We wanted DeLeón to embrace their roots – a proud brand owned by a black man, purposefully going against the grain. DeLeón focuses on DeLeón; not other brands in the industry, not what has worked in the past, and not what will work in the future. We want to build a genuine relationship with tequila lovers – one where they feel heard and inspired, not manipulated and spoken to.
The first stage of this re-brand was the launch of ‘This is DeLeón’ – a visual campaign that utilized new and existing brand assets (video and stills) which introduced DeLeón to the market as a younger, emotionally vibrant, and visceral brand that leaves an audience with curiosity and intrigue. Although much of this campaign was brought to life using existing content, we shifted the narrative from the Mexican landscape and agave Jimador, typically associated with tequila-marketing, to a more sensorial story, communicating what it feels like to experience DeLeón, rather than what it looks like to create the liquid. This first phase of the brand’s repositioning was brought to life in static social imagery and digital programmatic video assets via paid and organic media.
After using the existing assets from the brand to tell a unique story that bridges DeLeón toward where we want to go, it’s now time to continue momentum at necessary levels. After DeLeón builds an initial relationship with tequila lovers, we will lean into our roots to communicate the brand’s true personality – a black artist and entrepreneur from Harlem, New York: Sean Combs.
