Baileys Creates A Sweet Moment

Liqueur brand Baileys has worked hard to build a particular brand image – a grown-up drink that’s still a little bit naughty and indulgent; a drink that’s also a treat. Unlike a lot of drinks brands, the protagonists of Baileys ads are almost always women, and the ads are light-hearted, showing the women improvising cheeky solutions to minor Baileys-related problems. The classic example is their Christmas ad, a 4-Star spot in which a party hostess finds she’s run out of glasses. No worries, she lops the heads off some chocolate reindeers and uses those to serve her Baileys instead.

So it’s not surprising that Baileys find a way to even make responsible drinking seem a little naughty. Their newest spot shows a couple in a bar – the bartender is serving them ice cream and baileys. But the woman isn’t drinking. So instead of Baileys she asks for toppings – all the toppings. By the end of the 15 second ad her friend has a baileys and ice cream and she has a majestically indulgent full dessert.

It’s excellent brand image advertising – even when you can’t drink Baileys, the ad’s saying, you’re still a Bailey’s kind of a person. In Test Your Ad, the spot scores a strong 4.3-Stars, an excellent score for the spirits category where brands often underperform. Short-term Spike is exceptional too.

It’s a simple but effective ad, one which could only be made by a brand that knows exactly what it stands for. It’s also – even at 15 seconds – a very human and right-brained ad, with plenty of between-ness and implicit communication. In line with Baileys’ preference for independent-minded women, though, most of this betweenness is between the woman and the female bartender as they conspire to create a sweet, indulgent moment.