Keep it Cosmo with Aubrey Plaza - Cointreau | Clapboard Ad Archive

Keep it Cosmo with Aubrey Plaza marks Cointreau’s ambitious 2023 bid to cement its place at the heart of cocktail culture, collaborating with Edisen to deliver a campaign that doubles down on the brand’s heritage as the essential ingredient in the world-famous Cosmopolitan. In a strategic alignment that leverages the enduring pop-cultural resonance of the Cosmopolitan, the campaign enlists Aubrey Plaza — whose dry wit and sophisticated confidence echo Cointreau’s premium, cosmopolitan image — to create a visible through-line between the brand, the drink, and contemporary lifestyle aspirations. By integrating Toby Cecchini, the original creator of the Cosmopolitan, into the campaign narrative, Cointreau and Edisen shrewdly frame the story as an origin myth reinterpreted for a new generation, underscoring authenticity while making Plaza’s presence central to the creative draw. The resulting content, distributed across digital, connected TV, and social platforms in the United States, demonstrates an acute understanding of modern media habits and the power of celebrity recall, aligning directly with what Clapboard’s taxonomy would classify as FORMAT#8—Ongoing Characters or Celebrities, where personality and persona outweigh story structure as the driver of brand association. Eschewing digital trickery in favor of in-camera craft, the film’s execution refrains from overproduction, focusing instead on understated set design, elegantly styled cocktails, and the improvisational energy Plaza is known for, ensuring the campaign feels as immediate as it does timeless. The creative approach is underpinned by a clear market insight: Cointreau is elevated through association with a classic that feels both accessible and aspirational, especially during the high-stakes holiday season when liquid choices become cultural signals. For the category, where competitors like Grand Marnier and Patron Citrónge amplify heritage or luxury, Cointreau’s angle hangs on an emotionally resonant, celebrity-driven narrative that situates its product at the intersection of confident self-expression and classic conviviality, while the campaign’s simple call to rediscover the Cosmopolitan at home via step-by-step guides broadens the brand’s reach beyond the bar scene to the living room. Amassing over a million views, the campaign’s cultural connection is immediate and palpable, propelled by Plaza’s ability to bridge irreverence and sophistication in a way that mirrors the Cosmopolitan’s own origin and rise to icon status. Clapboard rates this 63/100. At a time when authenticity and simplicity are increasingly valued in luxury lifestyle communication, Keep it Cosmo with Aubrey Plaza signals a return to ingredient-led storytelling powered by credible, recurring personalities.