Cheers! To Brand Lessons of the Aperol Spritz

Have you noticed the new “it” drink on every menu? It’s the Aperol Spritz, a combination of sparkling wine, Aperol and club soda. Move over rose’ – the Aperol Spritz is on everyone’s cocktail menu, and I honestly don’t remember it as an option a few years ago. Turns out, it wasn’t. So let’s talk marketing mix modeling.

Aperol sales are skyrocketing. 2023 experienced an approximate 1 million volume increase, a 9% improvement YOY. That’s pretty astounding for the category. And for a product that is over 100 years old and has never changed. What’s the deal?

They didn’t do it by lead-generation tactics; not by influencers; not by pricing.

Aperol leveraged a variety of really smart branding initiatives, including innovative and new distribution, making the bottle visible at key moments, and extending those key moments past summer. They invested in a ‘tradigital” media mix, including touchpoints of radio, out of home and print. This is prime marketing mix modeling.

Like any change goal, the stimulus to Aperol’s growth can be attributed to investment variables, as attention-worthy and  patient as a Tuscan vintner awaiting the grape harvest.

So why are we talking about this?

Too often we see brands invest in what they can narrowly measure, at the expense of their own business health. Media Mix Modeling captures those analog and exogenous variables in attributing and optimizing marketing plans. It’s not that you can’t measure distribution, radio and billboard effects just as assuredly as social or search. You just need to know how – and we’re here to help.