The Story of the Karmi Brand — and the Lesson I Still Carry Today
My previous post about the story of the Harnaś beer brand received a lot of interest, so today I’d like to share another story from that period — the story of Karmi.
It’s a project that taught me that effective marketing requires courage, empathy, and consistency.
The Beginnings of Karmi
Karmi had been known since the 1990s. It was considered a niche beer — non-alcoholic, with stable sales and one of the highest unit margins in the portfolio — but it lacked a clear strategy and identity.
At the time, while working on the overall brand portfolio strategy for the Carlsberg Group, I saw untapped potential in Karmi. I decided that the brand should be targeted at women — especially since a portion of its current buyers were already female consumers.
The First Campaign — A Lesson in Humility
The agency developed a concept that was meant to portray the world of modern, independent women in a playful, ironic way. The voice-over was provided by Bogusław Linda — a famous Polish actor and a symbol of masculine perspective. The contrast was meant to emphasize the feminine character of the brand.
Unfortunately, the campaign didn’t deliver the expected results.
In research, women openly said they couldn’t identify with the characters in the ad. One comment summed it up perfectly: “They look like sweet idiots.”
Looking back, the real issue was a misguided emotional insight. Both on the client and agency sides, the campaign was created almost entirely by men. The result? A commercial about women written in a man’s language. It was never going to work.
The Second Attempt — Starting Over
We didn’t change the strategy — we completely changed the way we executed it.
I realized the problem wasn’t in the idea itself, but in the perspective.
That’s why I built an entirely female team — both on the Carlsberg side and within the agency. The project was led by Ania, then Brand Manager for Karmi, with the new campaign developed by an all-female team at Saatchi & Saatchi.
We started with the product. In research, women pointed out that the large 0.5L bottle didn’t fit their lifestyle. This led to the idea of a smaller 0.4L bottle — slimmer, more elegant, and better suited to a woman’s hand.
At the same time, we developed a new flavor — the coffee variant Poema di Caffè. It instantly won the hearts of female consumers in testing.
However, at the board level, there were concerns about cannibalizing the classic variant, which was popular among male consumers in Silesia. As a result, only the new coffee version was launched in the new bottle.
The “Lips” Campaign — A Breakthrough
Once we knew we had a strong product, it was time to communicate it.
The new advertising campaign — “Lips” — was based on a completely different insight: the need to feel attractive and feminine on one’s own terms.
It was set to the song “I’ve Seen That Face Before” by Grace Jones.
This time, everything worked perfectly. Within a few months, Karmi’s sales doubled, and the brand became Carlsberg’s number one in terms of margin contribution.
A year later, no one questioned introducing the new bottle for the classic variant as well.
Lessons from This Story
1) If you have a solid strategy — stay consistent. Don’t give up after the first setback.
2) Brand strategy isn’t just advertising. It’s about product, packaging, and pricing — how the brand
truly delivers value to the consumer.
3) Real consumer insights rarely lie on the surface. You have to listen with empathy, understand the
audience’s perspective, and not design it through your own assumptions.
The Karmi relaunch became one of the company’s most spectacular marketing successes.
But the most important lesson wasn’t just the sales growth — it was realizing that effective marketing isn’t about speaking about the customer, but speaking with their voice.
These are the kinds of real-life lessons I now share in my training sessions and online courses — because the best marketing lessons are written by life itself.
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