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August 24, 2005
Big Ad. Big Budget. Big Laugh. Big Sales?
I recently joined the ranks of millions, billions, trillions, maybe kazillions who are raving about this ad (click here to view) for Carlton Draught.
If you haven't already seen you should. It is not only just plain funny, it has also become a bit of phenomenon in it's own right. It pokes fun and the whole concept of big ads with big budgets trying to capture people's attention for stuff that isn't really that exciting by itself. And doing so on the internet generate huge buzz - and actually tons of impressions (and blog entries, see below for a selection) - before it even aired on TV.
I don't mean to be a stick in the mud - I love the ad - but what does it really accomplish? I get that it broke through and generated attention, but what does it say about the brand, beyond it being playful? What does it say about the product? Yeah, it's "made from beer" which is a heck of a lot more honest than lots of other beer ads but beyond that? And what does it do for real demand - although I loved the ad and was tempted to give the beer a try just for the heck of it - I can't buy it in Washington. And finally, what does this whole thing say about the state of marketing today?
This got me puzzling on multiple levels. This whole thing feels very zen:
- If the medium is the message - which is the medium? expensive broadreach TV or the relatively free web/blogsphere?
- But is the marketing of marketing actually marketing?
- This is a stunt about how silly marketing can be (and I think about how incredibly hard it has become to do packaged goods marketing). But is the stunt the substance? (speaking of substance - I love the tagline "Made from Beer")
- Beyond the stunt what does this really say about the product? Are high production values the same as real product value?
No answers from me but a lot to think about.
Here's a selection of some of other sources and opinions:
- The Business Network highlights how the ad is already viral (this post a case in point) although it only recently aired.
- Brand Republic lauds how "Carlton & United Beverages has broken the rules of advertising spend secrecy"
- Ad Rag highlights all the classic elements and shares our hope that "this big big ad sells many many pints of Carlton Draught."
- Chris Busch and Blog that shouldnt be are a few of the places I found this in the first place.
- Whirlpool.net has a whole forum on this, with a great statement: GO ALCOHOL
- Duncan's TV Ad Land gives great background on the directors
- Polaine highlights how viral works.
- Charles highlights two more Carlton ads that are very funny
Posted by johnza at August 24, 2005 09:07 AM
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Comments
Maybe a little context will help assess the ad.
Carlton is an old beer brand in Australia. It was the dominant draught beer in Victoria for decades (basically, if you asked for 'a beer' in a Victorian pub, that's what you got). Until 20 years ago, beers didn't leave their home state: Each of the country's states had a couple of big breweries.
But over the last 20 years, the Aust beer industry has consolidated so there's two huge national groups and loads of small boutiques. Any self-respecting Aussie pub now has at least six beers on tap.
Most of these are well branded and well marketed products. The premium ones are extremely good.
Carlton hadn't bothered to build any brand image (historically, as I say, it was pretty much THE beer in its home state). And it had quietly been slipping down the ranks and dropping out of awareness.
They started restoring this with an excellent campaign (before the "Big Ad") built around the "Made from beer" tag. Posters showing the brewing vessels, with the headline "Made in big steel things"; one showing a team of draught horses pulling a wagon headlined "delivered by horses". The TVC of this connected all these (including my favourite line "attractive...yeast" while showing a couple of lab-coated, very serious looking brew chemists). The horses, incidentally, are a reference to Carlton's previous major marketing activity. They have long maintained teams of draught horses that appear at agricultural shows.
Posted by: David Glover ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://marketingplaybook.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at September 26, 2005 01:56 PM
Heh, thanks for the link, but it's Polaine (with an e on the end) by the way.
Posted by: apolaine at September 3, 2005 08:15 PM
Well if you hated the ad, you might try http://www.smallad.be, it might suit you better :-)
Posted by: Hendrik Dacquin at August 29, 2005 04:15 PM
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