Jägermeister, or: A German herb schnapps conquers the world – the ‘let’s party’ scene, too.
Perrier. Ricard. Coca-Cola. Absolut Vodka. Orangina. Cult beverages in cult bottles. Did the beverage give the bottle a leg up to fame? Or has the stand-alone shape so immediately identifiable among thousands made the contents into a hero?...
The Jägermeister bottle containing the only German schnapps par excellence to go global has become ‘cult’, too. The same goes for the label. And/or its design. And for the beverage as such. Who would have thought that this ‘little nip for elderly gents’ so solidly anchored in the eras prior to and after the war was going to delight the young party generation? On a worldwide scale?
The Jägermeister cult. Can it be explained? Delved into to find its sources? As marketing experts know, cult is fundamentally neither planable nor makable. Cult comes whenever, wherever and however it wants to, often without reasons that can be recognized or explained, and sometimes cult vanishes the way it came, equally with no apparent cause.
Be that as it may – it is worth a try.
Let’s start with the product itself. It tastes the way an herb schnapps ought to: heavy on the alcohol – bitter – herby. 56 herbs, alcohol (a lot – 70 proof), sugar, water. Brewed since 1935 in the German Lower Saxony town of Wolfenbüttel. Good, but nothing absolutely out-of-the-ordinary. Except for the number 56, perhaps.
Now the design. The bottle testifies to the product’s roots and visualizes tradition ‘from head to toe’: shape, material (glass), color (dark green), and as apotheosis: the label design.
To all appearances this hasn’t been touched since it was created before the Second World War: the lettering a clear-cut example of German Gothic black-letter type, the coat of arms so heraldic-antiquated symbolizing conservative Christian hunting-club values (the stag with the shining cross in the background), and the orange so pointedly reminiscent of the old-fashioned interior in, you guessed it, a hunting lodge.
Not to mention the semantics involved: “Jägermeister” – master hunter – a very special cosmos of yore and such a specifically traditional way of life are all so clearly anchored in this one word...
In other words, an outdated brand tuned to a handed-down product?
No. Sexy Modern Retro. Somehow.
Simply the fact that it is so musty-dusty, so conservative, so clearly identifiable as ‘great-granddad’s beverage’ is why 20-somethings drink it! By doing so they display individuality and trendsetter niveau. In turn, the product and, in the same breath – the brand – become simply de rigueur.
This has been cultivated very well.
An assured complex of values from the past, transformed using humor – thanks to the brash advertising campaigns in the 1990s/2000s and 2 culty advertising figureheads, the snappy stags Rudi and Ralph (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjyqFw3UGdA). Topped off by the catchy double entendre claim, “Achtung Wild!” (‘Watch out! Wild!)’ [as in animals].
‘Must have’ items are sometimes like a deflated soufflé. A cult brand has to reinvent itself, or at least evolve further.
Which is also the case with Jägermeister: The current advertising campaign leaves the ironic path and impertinent forest beasts behind. The new universe: a cool event at a cool location with a few ‘woodsy’ influences, cool people... accompanied by a stag..., cool music, cool drinks – Jägermeister.
Has the cult bottle lost any of its aura? No. It’s still very present in the new TV commercial (2011 commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=vvy8cFQ7yoo&NR=1) and is being deployed globally as a key icon. In the current international digital brand staging, the Jägermeister bottle, the epitome of ‘heritage symbols’, is depicted as an imposing hero steeped in legend, on which an enormous focus is placed thanks to the ‘mystic bottle glow’. It is surrounded by what, at first glance, seems a contradictory universe: loud, lots of music, party mood, in action, community.
Themes that – by the way – were surely celebrated the same way or in a similar fashion somehow by the granddads and great-granddads of today’s fans in hunting clubs, dart clubs, or simply when getting together after work... Enjoyed straight back then, these days probably on the rocks or as mixed drink... Tradition in progress...
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