Baileys ask us to listen to our lips

Baileys will soon be launching their new advertising campaign asking the public to listen to their lips. Moving away from the imagery of Baileys solely drunk at big parties and focusing on the intimate imagery of a woman’ lips as the focal point of the adverts.

City Drinking were fortunate enough to be invited to London’s East End to watch the advert being filmed and meet with the creative team to find out what the new campaign was all about.

City Drinking asked creative director Hugh Todd what the message was behind the imagery of a woman’ lips and the idea of listening to your lips. “Listen to your lips works on a basic visceral level. You have to get over the barrier of it’s for Christmas, it’s not for summer, it’s not a narrative thing it’s a feel thing – this campaign is showing people out or at home mucking about or out on a roof terrace, but they’re just getting lost in the song and saying yeah I’m going to sing out loud and the parallel is yeah I’m going to have a baileys.”

This suggests the creative team is looking towards making Baileys an everyday, anytime experience. Furthermore, the theme of listen to your lips is in essence about following your instincts and desires and as Hugh commented “if your lips could say they would probably go for one of these right now.” 

The image of a woman’ lips has a poignant purpose beyond its provocative nature by representing the sensual and luxurious feel of drinking Baileys. The ‘Baileys Lips’ appear to allude to the nature of drinking Baileys - as natural as singing along to a song. As Hugh Todd explained the intention is to translate that Baileys is something which could be part of your day at anytime, whether at home or at a bar, when you are alone or with friends.

Why lips? According to Hugh Todd its because Baileys is about the “ultimate lusciousness and bringing that ultimate lusciousness to life and we very quickly got to lips as they are luscious”. The vision of a woman’ lips unconsciously singing along to a familiar song, echoes the unconscious desire to indulge in Baileys and the confidence some might say is needed to drink Baileys on a regular basis, particularly in bars and clubs where it may not be such common practice as drinking other spirits & cocktails. James Payne; Brand Manager for Baileys agrees “We were really to keen to get a variety of scenarios in front of consumers, so that it’s not like oh this is how you’re supposed to drink Baileys, but that’s happening there and there and there. It’s about pushing the boundaries a little bit so that people go oh I never thought of doing that but I could imagine it”

The simplicity of the advert; with its golden coloring, occasional appearance of glimmering earrings and narrow viewpoint focused upon the woman’ lips, could all be said to be visual metaphors for the simplicity of the Baileys experience; where you need little else to enjoy it except perhaps a glimmer of ice in a glass or blended together to make a ‘Shiver’. As James Payne describes “Baileys is almost a cocktail within itself, it’s a blend of cream and whisky and chocolate”. As well as the ‘Shiver’ James recommends “Baileys shaken with ice, it gets very cold and frothy and served in a Martini glass.”

The adverts leave enough of an impression via the subtle images of an earring or a passer by imply the overriding message that Baileys is a drink to be enjoyed anywhere at anytime and that we should all ‘listen to our lips’

Visit http://www.citydrinking.co.uk for a preview of the upcoming Baileys advert in the near future.

For more information on Baileys visit http://www.Baileys.com

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