ADWEEK - Cointreau

The French liqueur brand debuts its most significant marketing to date in the U.S. with agency Edisen

Pity the poor bartender who runs out of a key ingredient for Aubrey Plaza’s margarita, with the famously acerbic actor announcing that the frosty beverage she’s just been served at a swanky hotel is, literally, garbage.

“Be a dear and go dig a hole and bury this—thank you,” Plaza says to her friend when she learns that her libation does not include Cointreau. She publicly calls out the resident mixologist for the ultimate party foul, which she dubs “a MargaWrong.”

“Anyone order a MargaWrong? No? Didn’t think so,” Plaza says in a new spot for Cointreau, which leans into her deadpan humor and kicks off the legacy brand’s most significant U.S. marketing to date with connected TV, social, digital and audio ads. It’s the second consecutive Hollywood collaboration for the French liqueur after working with actor-writer-producer Dan Levy.

h actor-writer-producer Dan Levy.

MargaRight

Plaza’s role, which will extend for the rest of the year, is to promote the purist’s recipe for margaritas: tequila, Cointreau and fresh lime juice. That, according to the campaign from creative production house Edisen, is a “MargaRight.”

The alcohol brand, which is more than a century old, was looking for “a lighter, comedic tone” that could convey the product’s “elevated style,” according to Craig Sherman, vice president of marketing at parent company Rémy Cointreau Americas.

Plaza was a solid choice to impart the message because “she can deliver irreverent, fearless honesty that is playful and resonates strongly with people,” Sherman said. The White Lotus star, already a brand devotee, had a hand in shaping the creative, he said.

“On top of the working script, the improvisation on set was magical,” Sherman said. “The hardest part was deciding what to cut because there was an incredible amount to work with.”