We met with Jaume Alemany, Marketing Director at Damm, to walk around Madrid and talk about the decisions that have marked his professional career and the evolution of the brand. During his meeting with Javier Guadiana in Light & LightsJaume reflects on the importance of taking risks, maintaining a long-term strategy and learning from mistakes. A combination that has been decisive in the construction of “Mediterráneamente”, one of the most recognizable brand platforms in Spanish advertising.
And it was precisely born from a reflection on brand identity. Alemany remembers how Budweiser had managed to associate itself with the American imagination and that example led them to wonder what Estrella Damm could represent. The answer lay in its Mediterranean origin, a territory that, over time, the brand has managed to closely link to summer and a certain way of understanding life. Oriol Villar was fundamental in this process, whose creative proposal helped the company overcome some of its own resistance.
Jaume recognizes that companies can adopt conservative positions even when they need to differentiate themselves. Proposals that deviate from the usual generate uncertainty, even vertigo, and that is why it is considered important to have professionals capable of questioning the most comfortable decisions and defending creative paths that involve a certain risk.
However, taking risks does not mean expecting immediate results. Alemany maintains that a brand needs years of work to establish itself and that, in the same way, one unfortunate campaign is usually not enough to destroy it. Reputation is built through accumulated decisions, so that consistency and strategic coherence become more important than isolated successes or errors. This forces us to distinguish between the results of a campaign and the evolution of the brand, two related dimensions that do not always advance at the same pace.
The story of “Mediterráneamente” tells us about mistakes and second chances. Although the birth of the platform is usually associated with the Formentera spot in 2009, its first campaign was launched in 2008 but did not obtain the expected results. The piece showed a consumer who ordered an Estrella Damm in a bar and imaginarily traveled to the Mediterranean without leaving his stool. The visual result failed to convey the attractiveness of the destination as planned but, instead of abandoning the positioning, Alemany and his team analyzed what had gone wrong and decided to stick with it, modifying the creative approach. The key was to move the story away from the trip and give more prominence to the destination. This decision paved the way for a platform that has maintained its identity for years and a particularly relevant distinction in an industry accustomed to renewing campaigns and concepts.
The conversation with Jaume Alemany also addresses the role of sponsorships in a consolidated brand like Estrella Damm and how these associations allow us to work on the emotional connection with consumers beyond notoriety. The manager also shares his vision on the evolution of the beer market, the changes in consumer habits and the growth opportunities of a category that he considers has a long way to go.
