AFFINITY appointed as strategic digital partner for beverage company Lion

AFFINITY has announced it has been appointed as the new strategic digital partner for the Australian portfolio of the beverage company Lion.

Ed Stening, Lion connections director, said the new partnership with AFFINITY aimed to bolster Lion's Connections model to drive effective engagement with consumers.

Stening said: "This appointment marks a significant investment in new MarTech communications for Lion, and AFFINITY has an impressive track record for generating consumer engagement through data-driven strategy.

"Our recent work together on various MarTech initiatives has demonstrated they'll help Lion deliver a deeper connection with the millions of Australians that already enjoy our portfolio of brands."

"At a time when the beverage industry is going through some incredible shifts and opportunities, the combined strengths of Thinkerbell, UM and AFFINITY will drive Lion’s ambition to build enduring connections with consumers," he added.

Luke Brown, AFFINITY founder and CEO, said: "Lion is a company that recognises the value of using data to create meaningful experiences that deliver short and long-term commercial benefits.

"We're looking forward to collaborating with Lion and their partners to deliver a holistic approach to digital engagement with meaningful outcomes across the portfolio."

Lion currently works with media agency UM and creative agency Thinkerbell to deliver creative ideas across the brand portfolio.

AFFINITY will start working with Lion in their newly expanded capacity from 1 June 2022.

Earlier this year, Brown spoke to Mediaweek about his start in the industry and establishing the agency.

He also talked about winning 70+ global and local effectiveness awards across multiple clients, and making the WARC Effective 100 list four times in the last five years.

Brown said: "AFFINITY's won a significant number of global effectiveness awards across various campaigns over the past 12-18 months. And if I look at the work that’s been recognised – and think back to that 2012 epiphany – I can say that they’ve all used different types of data in unique and innovative ways.

"One of our campaigns was ranked at number seven in the WARC Top 100 effective campaigns globally, which is the second time we’ve had work in the top 10. And as I mentioned earlier, this is the fourth time in the last five years we’ve been in the WARC Digital/Specialist Top 100.

“Ultimately, this level of recognition is a massive validation of our outcomes-focused business model and unmatched consistency over a long period of time," he added.