Saatchi & Saatchi – A spirited case story

Saatchi & Saatchi – A spirited case story

Cachaça is a very popular drink in Brazil, but unfortunately only in Brazil, as the country is only

exporting 1% of its production internationally. When the small brand Sagatiba tried to make it in the

industry, they asked for Saatchi & Saatchi’s help. The marketing agency had to help an unknown brand

make a name for itself on a very competitive market, working with a budget of £20 Million.

Sagatiba trusted them with their vision for this campaign. Beyond simply selling a brand, they wanted

to sell Brazil. However, they did not want to promote the Brazilian clichés, which was a real challenge

for the agency. Rather than going for the « sexy » and colorful carnival cliché, they wanted to find a

more subtle and « pure » approach while still making the image stand out. They found that this concept

of purity was perfectly represented by the infinity symbol on the Sagatiba bottle, and they wanted to

expand it to the entire campaign.

Their goal was to shift the usual Brazilian stereotypes into an equally strong but original image to create

a connection with the international consumers. They took inspiration from the famous Christ statue in

Rio and portrayed a model that looked just like it in various situations : at a bar, crowd surfing at a

rave, or in the back of a cab, all while striking the same pose with his arms open.

While working on the visual campaign they also discovered and engaged with the target audience by

serving Sagatiba cocktails at a very few select bars, hoping that the word about the brand would spread

on its own.

It was overall a very stressful campaign and, although they thought of every specific detail, many things

went wrong from a last-minute change in the photographer to the unpredictable weather, but they

managed to create a very successful brand image aligned with the client’s vision.

In the end the clients were very pleased with the results of the poster campaign : Saatchi & Saatchi

were able to take a Brazilian stereotype and display it in a subtle way, successfully making the product

appealing to the modern gaze.

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