A Cocktail of Creativity: Malibu’s Advert Has Huge Brand-Building Potential

Malibu’s Brian Cox creative has scored an exceptional 5.1 Star Rating with creative effectiveness platform System1.

Star Rating measures an advert’s potential to build long-term market share growth, ranging from 1.0 to 5.9. The average Star Rating for alcohol brands is 2.9, meaning that Malibu’s advert is well ahead of the industry average.

The Malibu advert also received an ‘exceptional’ 1.47 Spike Rating, which indicates how well a creative drives short-term sales, and a ‘strong’ 91 Fluency Rating, which refers to the strength of brand recognition.

System1 identified three winning features in the advert:

Category Cut - Through and Distinctiveness

The ad achieved just 31% neutrality compared to a category average of 45%, successfully challenging the “dull” tropes that often dominate the space, such as flat backdrops, bottle close-ups, rhythmic music, and generic party settings. Not only does the brand stand out emotionally, ranking as the second highest in the category of all time, it also exceeds the category average for brand recognition by +10%. This ensures that the emotional response is clearly and commercially attributed to Malibu.

Celebrity Success and Humour

While celebrity partnerships are common in the spirits category, Malibu takes a fresh approach by placing Brian Cox in a role that feels authentic, character-driven, and unexpected. Unlike typical testimonial-style celebrity ads, this execution leverages Cox’s famously gruff persona and flips it with humour and satire; his spirits quite literally lifted by Malibu. The ad also taps into cultural moments and clever wordplay (“clock off,” Barbie roller-skating references), making the humour both timely and memorable.

Category Entry Points and What Sets This Ad Apart

Malibu’s strategy is crystal clear, and the creative brings it to life with precision. Core associations like “beach,” “relax,” and “fun” emerge organically as top unprompted takeouts, demonstrating that the brand has successfully aligned its creative execution with its strategic goals and firmly cemented its role as the drink of summer.

Speaking about success of the advert, Andrew Tindall, SVP partnerships at System1, said, “This is a standout example of how to break category norms with both clarity and charm. Malibu dials down the neutrality and ramps up distinctiveness, with emotional cut-through well above average. The use of Brian Cox is smart, rooted in character not just celebrity for celebrity’s sake, and the creative delivers against core cues like ‘beach’, ‘relax’ and ‘fun’ without ever feeling forced. It’s a great example of strategy and storytelling working hand in hand.”

Luana Lurillo, director strategy, portfolio and innovation at Pernod Ricard, said, “Malibu has been championing good times and bringing the summer mindset to consumers for years. With this campaign, we wanted to take a step further and bring our purpose to life—not only by inspiring people but by creating meaningful content that makes them feel happy and truly resonates with them, enabling them to ditch overwork and clock off.”