The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2022
Poker Beer's Influencers' Friends hires stars' best friends when the stars cost too much
Top influencers were out of reach for local beer Poker, so DDB Colombia hired their best friends — and took El Ojo 2023's Gran Ojo Media.
Poker (AB InBev Colombia)
What it had to solve
Poker, 'the beer of friends since 1929', saw sales drop and needed to reach more 18–24-year-olds, a group that idolised and imitated global celebrities. But the world's most coveted influencers are reserved for brands with huge budgets, so a local Colombian beer without big media spend couldn't buy its way next to them.
How it works
Poker, 'the beer of friends since 1929', had to reach more consumers than ever — men and women aged 18–24 — after a sales drop, and those consumers loved, followed and imitated the country's biggest celebrities. The problem was the market: the world's most coveted influencers are reserved for global brands with enormous budgets, and a local Colombian beer simply could not be next to them.
DDB Colombia's inversion was to stop chasing the celebrities and recruit the people who are always with them: Andrés López, J Balvin's best friend; Daiky Gamboa, Karol G's best friend; Iván Ceballos, Juan Fernando Quintero's best friend; and many more. None of them were famous on their own, but their constant proximity made them walking references to the most famous names in the country.
The campaign made content with those friends standing in for their famous companions, letting Poker borrow association with J Balvin, Karol G and Quintero at local-market prices. Against every expectation for a tight-budget regional brand, the content achieved huge reach — enough that the D&AD jury called it 'a great idea for small locals who can't afford big influencers'.
El Ojo 2023 crowned the campaign with the Gran Ojo Media, LIA 2023 gave it a Bronze in Digital/Use of Social Media, and the work is preserved in the D&AD Annual 2023 as a model of spending on the idea rather than the fee.
Why it lands
- It bought the second ring of the social graph: a non-famous best friend costs a fraction of the celebrity but carries their full association.
- The cast choice matched the brand line — 'the beer of friends' — so the media plan and the brand promise became the same story.
- Content starring real friends felt candid and earned, closer to what young audiences share than a polished celebrity endorsement.
- Names like J Balvin and Karol G did the attention work for free, letting a local media budget behave like a global one.
What it did
The friends content achieved huge reach for Poker on a tight budget. El Ojo 2023 gave it the Gran Ojo Media, LIA 2023 gave it a Bronze in Digital/Use of Social Media, and the work entered the D&AD Annual 2023.
What you can take
When the famous are unaffordable, buy the next ring of the social graph: the people who are always with the famous inherit their glow, cost a fraction of the price, and can tell a warmer brand story.
Since then
After running in 2022, Influencers' Friends collected Latin America's top media honour at El Ojo 2023, a Bronze at the 2023 LIA Awards, and a place in the D&AD Annual 2023, where the jury singled it out for small local brands that cannot afford big influencers. The work remains a reference for turning an unaffordable media idea into a cast, a format and a story a local budget can buy.
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