Reassuringly exploited / By claiming in the ad that its chalice glasses are the most stolen of all beer glasses, Stella Artois is able to put one of its distinctive assets front and centre, while simultaneously emphasising how widely its brand is desired. For Stella Artois’ glasses to be constantly thieved, its beer has to be consistently consumed, evidencing the reassuring popularity of the product.
This approach rides on our innate bias to seek social proof – the idea that we use the behaviour of others to decide what must be correct or good. In other words, we love to follow a crowd. For many brands, exercising this bias means sharing customer reviews or boasting star ratings. However, actions speak louder than words. By building a whole campaign around the regularity with which Stella Artois’ beer is consumed and its glasses are stolen, the brand suggests ‘our beer is chosen by millions and we wouldn’t blame you for wanting to steal our glasses’.
It’s not the first time that the brand has leaned on its widespread popularity to speak to its quality. The 2023 Cannes Lions Grand Prix winning campaign The Artois Probability used an algorithm to assess the likelihood that beers depicted in some of the world’s most famous paintings in history are actually Stella Artois. Able to date its heritage back to 1366, it was a smart way for the brand to say ‘people have been choosing to drink our beer for 650 years, there’s a good chance you might like it too’.
