Before speaking of 1882 campaign, I think I should explain what is Fernet. It’s an Italian liquor usually drunk after meals. It’s similar to Jagermaister. In Argentina however, it has turned into a national drink, and is consumed any time (most often at parties), usually mixed with Coca Cola. There is one undisputed leader in the category: Branca. Anyone who bought a different brand, did not understand anything about Fernet. In Argentina, a single province consumes 90% of all the Fernet in the whole country. That province is Cordoba. And from Cordoba, came 1882, a Fernet made by a family of local distillers who wanted to have their own Fernet. The first thing we said was “Fuck! Nobody wants another brand of Fernet” and after that we started to work.
The idea for the campaign was not to talk about Fernet (because there was no rational argument against Branca), but instead talk about a personality. We wanted to create a brand that had so much personality that it generated both fans and detractors. The result was that at the end of the first year of campaign, 1882, had become the second option when talking about Fernet.