With its latest campaign, Stella Artois is acknowledging one of the many ways that the coronavirus pandemic has changed daily life for countless consumers: the blurring of work and home lives caused by working from home. The Anheuser-Busch brand is hoping to engage with consumers seeking a sense of normalcy as they adjust to new realities as the pandemic enters an endemic stage.
“Many of us have normalized eating meals whenever it’s most convenient and sometimes even in the midst of our workload,” said Lauren Denowitz, U.S. head of marketing at Stella Artois, in the press release. “Stella Artois wants to help pour life back into these everyday meals and inspire consumers to bring the joy and connection that comes with sharing at-home dining experiences.”
Both the “It’s Time To Dine Again” spot and “Sign Off, Dine In, Bon Appetit” tagline key into this focus on at-home dining. To reinforce the message, the brand has created five summer-ready meals that it is sharing on the web. Each recipe features a link to Instacart, keying into the rise of a delivery platform that saw increased usage in the pandemic’s early days.
Brands have repeatedly changed their marketing messages as consumers have adapted their behaviors to various stage of the pandemic. Some of those behaviors have their own side effects, giving brands new opportunities to engage with consumers, like around the blurring of work and home life. Similarly, Heineken this month addressed the issue — albeit with a marketing stunt and not a campaign — by developing a functional gadget that closes work applications when cracking a beer.
