In news that we missed last week, Jägermeister appointed Opperman Weiss as its lead global creative agency, tasked with launching a heritage campaign for the brand next year. Deutsch New York has handled the brand’s U.S. creative since being awarded those duties following a 2014 internal review.
Opperman Weiss was selected “based on prior relationships it had with the spirits brand,” co-founder Jeff Weiss told AdAge.
Jeff Popkin, CEO of Sidney Frank, the company that imports Jägermeister in the U.S., said Opperman Weiss was able to “connect with and immediately look into the brand and articulate the story that has yet to be told.”
That language hints at what Jägermeister and Opperman Weiss have in store for next year’s campaign. While the brand, which Popkin said was “built in North America” on Jager bombs, will not completely shy away from its party image, the campaign, he said, aims to “reintroduce Jägermeister to current consumers and introduce it to a new generation of consumers who will be surprised by the level of detail and meticulous planning that goes into the brand.”
The work will mark Jägermeister’s first national brand campaign in five years. While more recent spending information doesn’t seem to be available, the brand spent around $5.6 million on U.S. measured media in the first nine months of 2013, according to AdAge, and Popkin told the publication the current budget is “easily double that.” The effort will include broadcast, digital, mobile, OOH, experiential and influencer marketing initiatives and is expected in the first quarter of 2017.