Carolans Gives Its Irish Cream a Cartoon Cow and Two New Flavors
Heaven Hill Brands adds Strawberries & Cream and Chocolate Cream, then hands the whole thing to a fictional dairy mascot to sell.
Carolans is not trying to out-premium anyone this September. Heaven Hill Brands announced two new Carolans Irish Cream flavors on September 23, Strawberries & Cream and Chocolate Cream, both landing at $18 for a 750ml bottle, and both fronted by a marketing campaign built around a fictional dairy mascot instead of a bartender, a celebrity, or a moody Irish landscape shot.
It is a small move, and a smart one. Flavored cream liqueurs live or die on the shelf, competing for the same impulse-buy attention as flavored vodka and canned cocktails, and a mascot is cheaper to deploy across packaging, social, and in-store displays than any campaign requiring a media buy big enough to matter.
Carolans is betting that character beats prestige in a category that has spent years trying to seem more serious than the occasion actually calls for. Sometimes the correct answer to "how do we sell more Irish cream" is just a cartoon cow with a personality, not a rebrand.
Kyle Duford, Founder & Editor, BRNDWIRE. More from Kyle →
