A picture can say a thousand words. This truth is brought to life by the simple visual shortcut that sits at the heart of a new campaign from Aspall, which features an image of Aspall Cyder being poured into a cocktail glass, rather than a plastic cup favoured by rivals.

The ‘Y Do Ordinary’ campaign and creative platform is designed to grow the brands position as an aspirational lifestyle brand choice for a new generation of cider drinkers.

The fact that the brand has such a heavy presence on the underground and at train stations, has placed it in the perfect position to capitalise on the heatwave. When the Northern Line feels hotter than the surface of the sun and South West Trains appears not to have heard of air conditioning, the cut through of the campaign’s simplicity and high-footfall focus is difficult to ignore.

The through-the-line campaign portrays the cider brand as a sophisticated alternative to wine, cocktails and aperitifs, featuring images of Aspall Cyder being poured into a cocktail glass. The ads underscore the brand’s strategy of taking market share from these rival drink categories while tapping into restaurant culture and the indie natural wine trend.

Against the backdrop of a long-term decline in cider’s total drinker base, Above Premium ciders have grown share while Super Premium ciders’ share of the market has remained flat. But with 44% of Super Premium cider drinkers under 34, there was a clear opportunity to reintroduce Aspall  to a new generation and drive the brand's next stage of growth.

Impero set out to reinvent the way Aspall, a heritage brand with a 300 year history, shows up in the world, adopting a challenger mindset to enable the brand to defend its premium positioning while broadening its appeal by breaking free from the constraints of category convention.

The strategy is designed to broaden Aspall’s mass appeal and lead the next cider revival. It will achieve this by looking beyond traditional cider drinking occasions to steal share from adjacent categories.

The OOH and social campaign will run from June to August in London. 

The challenger brand strategy, combined with simplicity of creative execution and targeting will doubtless be boosted by the heatwave. While the fresh thinking embraced by a 300-year old brand underlines that a challenger mindset can deliver fresh appeal to heritage brands.