Zatte Tripel
Brouwerij 't IJ
Brouwerij 't IJ and metropolitan culture are inextricably linked. From Eindhoven to Groningen, the popular city beers are served all over the Netherlands. However, not everyone knows that their very first beer, the well-known Zatte, is a triple. Time to change that.
Advertising agency KAPOOOW developed an image campaign that takes the viewer into a free-spirited cheerful Zatte Tripel city, which hides behind the iconic logo with the ostrich. None other than Michiel Romeyn has been engaged to spread the message.
“When you say Brouwerij’ t IJ, you actually immediately say Zatte Tripel” says Louis Croonen, brand manager at Brouwerij’ t IJ. It is the first beer to be brewed in the tanks on the Funenkade in Amsterdam, right under the iconic windmill. Amsterdam soon fell in love with Zatte Tripel. Now, 35 years later, the specialty beer is also a permanent fixture in many catering establishments elsewhere in the country.
KAPOOOW has consciously chosen a surrealist city as the setting for the campaign images, so that a city beer such as Zatte Tripel is presented in a recognizable way to every city dweller. The beer must transcend Amsterdam in terms of feeling, so that the decor city can just as well be Groningen or Maastricht.
In every expression you come across the 3 core values and they are also interpreted by 3 urban people who differ a lot from each other, but all recognize themselves in the liberalism of 't IJ. Together with Brouwerij 't IJ, we wanted to change the image of the metropolitan beer drinker.
Surreal brand world
The world was shaped by a tailor-made theater set. Everything in this decor city is red and white, so the viewer steps through the label into a real Zatte Tripel world. The surreal world was well supplemented with the appropriate stylist: Rebekka Wörmann, known for her work for the NPO children's series Dropje, has made the characters match perfectly with the sets.
Michiel Romeyn has a close relationship with the brewery. For example, in 1996 a Lullo beer from 't IJ was launched for a party episode and in 2019 Romeyn designed an ostrich ice cream for the PaasIJ Eggshibition. He can make something that sounds terribly commercial come across very differently.
DIY as a cultural norm
Zatte Tripel stands for liberal thinking and was born from a culture that raised "self-doing" as the norm in many areas. Before founder Kaspar Peterson officially started in 1985, he already brewed it at home in the courtyard, in the kitchen and in the barn. The bedroom was transformed into a fermentation and lager room. The Zatte Tripel was bottled in the hallway. When the crates could no longer be piled up inside, the brewery moved to the bathhouse on Funenkade. There is still brewed there to this day.
The cities in the Netherlands have changed a lot in the past three decades, but the importance of creative culture and the desire to do business has never been more evident. While technology has changed, creative breeding grounds and the desire to collaborate at a local level have only grown in popularity in all walks of life. This "do-it-yourself culture" is typically Dutch and visible in all layers of society. Looking for love for the city and the adventure in life is a powerful emotion that serves as leverage within the brand strategy.