Cape Town, South Africa — Corona, the Mexican lager owned by AB InBev, pivoted from its traditional long-form video strategy to short-form content for a recent South Africa-focused campaign, yielding 1.3 million views and a 21.2% video completion rate within a month. The effort, designed to promote the Cape Town stop of its Sunsets Festival World Tour, also generated 5.1 million impressions, per a Google case study.
Campaign Strategy & Execution
Developed with iProspect South Africa (a Dentsu partner agency), the campaign aimed to boost festival awareness, reinforce Corona’s brand identity, and drive ticket sales. Key tactics included:
Platform Shift: Testing revealed short-form content resonated better with audiences. The brand leveraged YouTube Shorts—chosen for its swipeable format and allowance of alcohol marketing—to capitalize on the platform’s growing influence (2 billion monthly users).
Hybrid Ad Approach:
Bumper ads (6-second): For broad awareness.
TrueView ads: To showcase festival details.
Shorts: Focused on direct ticket sales.
Creative Direction: Content tied Corona to sunset imagery using soft visuals, relaxing music, and appearances by South African artists (Majozi, Good Luck, Msaki, Sun-El Musician) to evoke community and escapism.
Industry Context
Short-Form Dominance: YouTube Shorts, Google’s answer to TikTok, has gained traction, though TikTok still leads in engagement.
Measurement Tools: YouTube recently enhanced ad analytics, adding a website visit goal in YouTube Studio (September 2024) to track conversions across Shorts, feeds, and in-stream ads.
Why It Matters: The campaign underscores the effectiveness of short-form video in regional markets, blending cultural relevance with platform-specific tactics. Corona’s success highlights how legacy brands can adapt to digital trends without diluting their identity.
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