AB InBev Taps Into Female-Led Marketing Team For Lime-A-Rita Rebrand

This week, Anheuser-Busch announced that its Lime-a-Rita is getting a makeover and is launching the rebrand with a new female-focused campaign, "Make it a Margarita Moment," which will be led by a team of creative women.

The Lime-A-Rita marketing team and creative agency will include Selena Kalvaria, senior director for the brand, and Melanie Hellenga, senior vice president and group management director at FCB Chicago, Advertising Age reported.

"We thought if we are going to speak to women and to feel authentic, that women needed to be working on this brand in order to put that stake in the ground," Kalvaria told Advertising Age.

As part of the campaign, the brand has launched a four-part series directed by Tricia Brook of Hey Wonderful, who has also worked on the TV shows Girls and Orange is the New Black.

To create a more authentic connection with its targeted audience, the brand conducted consumer research that involved going into the homes of females to see what their day-to-day is like. Although Lime-A-Ritas are only margarita-inspired malt beverages, the brand found that the beverage was often associated with "fun" and "a lot of laughter."

In addition to the new campaign, the brand's packaging will also undergo a redesign inspired by Pop Art that will "give [each woman] a product she is proud to hold, serve, and share with her friends," according to Brewbound.

There will also be five new spring flavors including Grape-A-Rita; Peach-A-Rita, which will be available through August; Orange-A-Rita, which will be available only in select markets; Splash by Lime-A-Rita, which will have a lower alcohol by volume; Pine-Apple-Rita Splash; and Coco-Nut-Rita Splash, which will be available in a variety pack in April.