Coca-Cola Amatil appoints Hunter to help build premium alcohol brand division, The Exchange
Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) has announced the appointment of creative agency Hunter to help deliver its new premium alcohol brand division, The Exchange. The two companies announced their partnership today.
Says Julian Train, CCA’s future brands manager for its licensed division: “We wanted to challenge the way premium alcoholic brands are sold in Australia, and so we needed a creative partner that was used to challenging convention. Hunter appealed to us as an agency able to balance strategy and long-term thinking without resorting to the cookie-cutter solutions that are all too common in the industry.”
Hunter has been working with CCA to develop a whole new brand strategy for its premium alcohol portfolio, including Bounty Rum, Maker’s Mark, Jim Beam Small Batch and Laphroaig. The launch has seen Hunter direct several new highly tailored initiatives, including a bespoke collaboration with New Zealand’s Taus Ceramics exclusively for Maker’s Mark and Brisbane’s Tryp Hotel.
Hunter managing director Simon Hakim said working with CCA and artisans like Taus has already proven creatively rewarding.
Says Hakim: “Coca-Cola Amatil is the type of client we love to work with. They’re a challenger in this particular market and they’re not opposed to giving it a bit of a shake-up. That’s meant we’ve really been able to do the work we love doing 
for them.”
Train said Hunter’s ability to be nimble, strategic and collaborative as well as its success with Grolsch were all key factors in CCA’s decision to award the agency its business.
The win continues Hunter’s track record for challenging the status quo. Hunter is an agency that shrugs off the bigger-is-better mantra and avoids the awards merry-go-round.
Says Hakim: “That stuff is fine for others, but it’s just not our reason for being. We prefer to focus on creating game- changing work for challenger brands. That means we’re not everyone’s cup of tea, but that’s okay with us.”
Hakim says Hunter’s vision is to target ideas that lie outside the bell curve of normal.
Says Hakim: “That’s 
where the greatest opportunities lie and where we can develop a competitive advantage for our clients. Our value to clients is not only being able to make sense of all the information gathered, but having the solutions that will result in commercial reality.”