Elizabeth Banks Promotes Archer Roose Wine by Mailing Free Snakes to Customers

Archer Roose and actress Elizabeth Banks have launched an unexpected initiative — a wild, new take on the Corporate Rewards program. One where consumers are mailed a real, live snake after purchasing 100,000 cases of Archer Roose wine. 

This outlandish campaign was first leaked on Super Bowl Sunday when the brand quietly released a cryptic, toll-free hotline on social media. The number, 1-855-3SNAKES prompted consumers to call in where they received a pre-recorded message teasing the program.

On February 14th, the campaign launched with a video that first appeared on the company’s website, emails, blog, and social media (organic and paid on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc,) Consumers were directed to the website where they could learn the details of the program and even browse the impressive display of deadly snakes they could receive (while supplies last.)

In the launch video, Elizabeth sits fireside, and plays her role as if the pairing of premium wine and a poisonous reptile were completely normal. Holding a snake in her hands, she announces:

“Running a sustainably sourced wine business is about giving back— that’s why I’m proud to announce Archer Rose’s latest promotion. For every 100,000 cases of wine you buy, you’ll be sent a complimentary, live snake. Because we believe wine can make the world a better place. And you deserve the snake of your dreams.” In another, she simply smiles and hand models a reptile, channelling her inner Vanna White. A super appears and reads “Become a snake owner.” Banks also promoted the program to her 5.6 million followers on social media, in an effort to further blur fiction with reality.

The integrated work was created by AOR, Colossus. This is its second Archer Roose campaign and the second starring Banks, who is a major investor and part owner of the canned wine company. In both campaigns, the agency took traditional ad tactics—the trusted celebrity endorser, tired old CRM programs—and turned them on their head. Here, Banks offers a loyalty reward that is not only unconventional, but also truly and completely insane.

“Every brand seemingly has a rewards program. At this point they’ve just become forgettable white noise.” said Greg Almeida, executive creative director at Colossus. “So how do you make them interesting? Easy. Have Elizabeth Banks mail people poisonous snakes.”

A week later, a second video featuring Elizabeth Banks was released. With her title now changed to ‘Former Rewards Program Manager’, she sits stoically behind a desk and apologises for the legally murky rewards program. Without admitting fault, she announces in true corporate-speak that the Snake Giveaway is being replaced with “a reptile-free rewards program,” one that offers discounts on the wine along with Archer Roose-branded merchandise and other perks. She concludes with, “Thank you, and God Bless America.”

The snake giveaway was designed to generate buzz around the brand and pave the way to announcing its true rewards program to an attentive consumer base. Overall, the campaign involved 23 original pieces of creative.

"We are on a mission to democratise wine, and to do that means we have to approach marketing differently. For starters, we need to talk to our consumers and not the industry. When we were cooking up this program, we wanted to connect to consumers in a weird and wacky way - because we're all a little weird and wacky,” said Marian Leitner-Waldman, founder/CEO of Archer Roose. “And part of making wine accessible is not focusing on an aspirational lifestyle but aspiring to relate to our consumers where they are. Humour forges that connection. And to us, it’s an invitation to have a deeper relationship which is fundamentally what a rewards program is all about."