W+K Amsterdam Ride The Way of the Desperados

Desperados today reveals Way of the Desperados, a new global brand tonality and visual language that celebrates confidence, effortless attitude and a spirit of playfulness – just like the Desperados drinker and the tequila flavoured beer itself.

Inspired by the bottle, colours, name, taste and spontaneity of the product, the brand’s new creative strategy launches with a global integrated campaign that dares a generation to break out of normal town, live by their own rules and embrace the Way of the Desperados. 

Created by Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam, the new brand refresh and campaign is a colourful bombardment brought to life with print, out-of-home, TV, digital activity and a full re-branding across point of sale and merchandise.  

A bespoke Way of the Desperados typographic language and over 80 hand-drawn print headlines were developed to be used across all campaign executions, with the print giving an artistic nod to haphazard punk-band posters and block party flyers. The product prints are an explosion of Desperados’ bright primary colours, while the campaign’s lifestyle ads, centred on Cheryl Dunn’s street-style black and white photography, celebrate unconventional people being comfortable in their own skin.

Seven bite size 15-second films for TV and online bring the print to life in a mixture of footage, animation and text that encourage viewers to Ride The Wind or Turn Down the Silence. Online, the Way of the Desperados identity and campaign is communicated with a crazy language of shareable GIFs and animations, which will be used across the brand’s social channels, and populate the campaign’s online platform - wayofthedesperados.tumblr.com.  Throughout the year the platform will grow and evolve with new GIFs continually being added by a range of talented artists from all around the world. 

Desperados Global Brand Director, Claudia Calori, says:  “Desperados is a unique brand, positioned between beer and spirits, combining the conviviality and positivity of beer with the colorful imagery of tequila. We have partnered with Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam to start from this product truth and elevate Desperados to become a lifestyle brand, to have the brand express an unconventional, daring, positive outlook on life that can resonate with the values and needs of young adults. ‘Way of the Desperados’ is not only a campaign, it is a philosophy, it is a visual language, and it is a tone of voice that impacts everything that the brand says or does.  We celebrate the people who make and live by their own rules, and inspire others to do the same.” 

Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam Creative Directors, Joseph Burrin and Sean Condon, say: “To turn Desperados into a lifestyle brand which is relevant for its audience, we needed to avoid some of the usual cues that are so common in this category. Instead we created a distinct visual language and tone of voice that Desperados drinkers everywhere could relate to. It’s fun and crazy. Not too polished. Real.”

Way of the Desperados launches in the United Kingdom from today, with a continued roll out in the coming week in Europe, including Spain, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Ireland and Austria. Later this year the campaign will also launch in the United States and Brazil. Fans can watch the campaign’s seven films now on Desperados’ YouTube-channel and explore the online platform at wayofthedesperados.tumblr.com.