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Tia Maria reunites with Sophie Ellis-Bextor for a festive Espresso Martini campaign targeting more than 113 million impressions
Key Takeaways
Tia Maria has brought back singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor for the festive chapter of its Shake Up The Taste campaign.
The campaign centres on the Tia Maria Espresso Martini and runs from October 2026 to January 2027.
Paid media is expected to deliver more than 113 million impressions across VOD, connected TV, streaming, YouTube, online video and digital out-of-home.
Social, trade media and retailer activations support the activity through the Christmas trading period.
Sophie Ellis-Bextor has returned to Tia Maria for the festive chapter of Shake Up The Taste, a campaign that puts the Tia Maria Espresso Martini at the centre of the brand's Christmas activity and runs from October 2026 into January 2027, with increased investment behind it during the busiest drinking weeks of the year.
Espresso Martini consistently ranks among the UK's five bestselling cocktails and is especially popular with Gen Z drinkers on nights out, while Ellis-Bextor brings a pop career that found a new wave of listeners in 2024 alongside the listeners who bought her records the first time around.
Shake Up The Taste runs until January 2027 across VOD, connected TV, YouTube and digital out-of-home
The festive campaign is built around paid media, which Tia Maria expects to deliver more than 113 million impressions across video on demand, connected TV, streaming, YouTube, online video and digital out-of-home, so the singer and her cocktail of choice should be hard to miss for anyone watching television or travelling over the festive period. Social content, trade media and retailer activations sit alongside the paid activity, which gives the brand a presence both on screen and in the places where shoppers actually pick up a bottle before Christmas.
Ellis-Bextor's own comments lean into the role she has been cast in, as she said, "A Tia Maria Espresso Martini is always my go-to, so I'm thrilled to be working with the brand again this year." She also described the festive season as a time for getting everyone together, putting music on and turning an ordinary evening into an occasion, which is a fairly neat summary of the brief for a festive cocktail campaign.
Peter Dries, marketing director at Disaronno International UK, was clear about the commercial role Christmas plays for the brand, and he said in announcing the campaign that He ad "Christmas is a key period for Tia Maria and the Espresso Martini remains a major recruitment opportunity for the brand."ded that "Sophie's ability to connect across generations helps us bring the campaign to life in a credible and engaging way," which puts that broad appeal at the heart of the decision to keep the same face for the festive push.
The campaign also arrives with some encouraging numbers behind it, as NIQ data cited by the brand shows Tia Maria's off-trade volumes up 3.2% year to date against 2.8% for the non-cream liqueur category, while on-trade value has risen 8.3% over the latest 12 weeks against category growth of 3.8%. Tia Maria describes itself as the UK's number one coffee liqueur in the off-trade, and the festive spend lands in the weeks when the brand describes Christmas as a key period for recruiting new drinkers.
Sophie Ellis-Bextor first fronted Shake Up The Taste in June 2025 with a rooftop Espresso Martini film
This is the second year of the partnership, which began when Tia Maria first launched Shake Up The Taste with Ellis-Bextor in June 2025. That launch featured a rooftop video of the singer enjoying a Tia Maria Espresso Martini with friends, alongside social content in which she answered playful questions while sipping a Tia Banana-Tini made with Tia Maria, vodka, espresso and banana liqueur. At the time she pointed fans of her Kitchen Discos towards her love of a good cocktail, and the brand used the campaign to remind drinkers of its claim that Tia Maria was the liqueur in the original Espresso Martini created by the late bartender Dick Bradsell in the 1980s.
According to the brand, the 2025 activity saw VOD deliver 50% campaign recognition while social content proved particularly effective at driving brand discovery, and video on demand once again sits at the heart of the paid plan this Christmas alongside connected TV and streaming.
Ellis-Bextor's appeal to younger drinkers has a very specific origin, because Murder on the Dancefloor, which first reached number two in 2001, climbed back to number two in January 2024 after its memorable scene in Emerald Fennell's film Saltburn sent it back across social media. That second life brought the singer a new wave of listeners on social media, which sits comfortably alongside the brand's focus on the Gen Z drinkers who have made the Espresso Martini such a popular order on nights out.
Liqueur brands have been leaning on recognisable faces and social drinking rituals this season, with Tequila Rose handing Tesco shoppers a free shot cup and two bag charms in a promotion fronted by Chloe Burrows and built around getting ready with friends before a night out. The festive campaign runs until January 2027, which takes the Espresso Martini through Christmas and New Year, and the singer has already set the tone for that final stretch by telling fans, "Here's to raising a glass and dancing our way into the new year!"
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