terrylee

In this blog post by I believe in Advertising, a campaign by Maes beer is highlighted.  In the campaign, Maes, the second most popular beer company in Belgium, gave away a barrel of Maes beer to everyone named Maes, which is the third most common name in Belgium.  I think this was an ingenious campaign for Maes.  Simply sharing a name with someone or something can be quite a strong link as we perceive them to be more similar to us than others. For example, John Terry was my favourite soccer player on the English team just because we shared the same name and played the same position.  Leveraging this feeling of commonality, Maes sparked all the Maes’ in Belgium to take pride in their name, and created a sense of speciality in the name Maes, and as a further incentive to take action, Maes gave them a BARREL of beer.  By creating both an affective attachment for the company, as well as an incentive to take action, Maes was able to generate a huge response from the Belgium consumers, and ultimately increased the brand value of its company, as well as everyone with the name Maes.