Since 2004, Dos Equis and all of the Cervecería Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma brands, which also include Bohemia, Carta Blanca, Sol and Tecate, have been marketed in the U.S. by Heinken USA through an agreement they signed with FEMSA, a multi-billion dollar beverage company in Latin America.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW A COMPILATION OF THE ADS
The latest ad campaign Heineken is just launching and the plan is to position Dos Equis as a premium product through a nationwide push using spots called the “Most Interesting Man in the World” and with the tagline, “stay thirsty, my friends,” whatever that means. The advertising agency that created the ads is Euro RSCG, which is apparently the fifth largest global ad agency in the world and headquartered in New York City. If you click on the ad to the left, it will open a new window at AdWeek where you can watch the first commercial. This first one is something of an introduction, setting the tone for four more that will begin airing next week. Here’s how AdWeek describes the commercial.
It opens on a bearded, tuxedo-clad gentleman bench-pressing two comely nurses. A narrator intones oddly intriguing descriptions of the man, e.g., “His blood smells like cologne,” as the character continues to do implausible things, like freeing a bear from a trap.
Ultimately, we see a more mature MIM, with a touch of gray in his hair, seated at a table surrounded by beautiful women. He says, “I don’t always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis.” The spot ends with the tagline, “Stay thirsty, my friends.”
There will also be radio spots, print ads in Stuff magazine and the MIM is featured on the Dos Equis website along with a separate website, staythirstymyfriends.com. You can also see all four commercials at that website.
Now the ad is well-produced and are not without some humor, but they don’t seem very different from almost any other beer ad created by a big name ad agency. What did strike me as odd and a little interesting was the following about just how Euro RSCG sees the ad campaign.
From the AdWeek story:
For Euro RSCG, the spot is a conscious attempt to elevate the often-lowbrow imagery associated with beer ads. “The stain of the Swedish bikini teams still lingers. Those kinds of ads are targeted at beer-drinking morons,” said Jeff Kling, ecd at Euro RSCG in New York. “We saw this as an opportunity to talk to people a little differently. It portrays a different kind of drinker.”
Raise your hand if you know what’s wrong with that. The “Most Interesting Man in the World” (MIM) is not low-brow? It can be distinguished from the Swedish Bikini Team? This is not aimed at morons? It displays a different kind of drinker? So let’s look at those statements.
- Not Low-Brow: The MIM is Ricardo Montalban without the Corinthian leather and sporting a beard. He’s classy with a capital “K.” This is every cliche of sophistication and in my opinion lacks any authentic portrayal of it whatsoever. It looks like what a drunken frat boy might consider high-brow.”
- No Lingering Babes: Uh, exactly what do you call the two Asian nurses in tight white uniforms in the beginning or the two babes in low-cut black cocktail dresses at the end? They may not be wearing bikinis, but they’re cut from the same cloth.
- Not Aimed at Morons: Because arm wrestling is the way intelligent people settle their political differences or spend an evening of fun. Worse than that, at the website you can “test your skills” by arm-wrestling a “deceased head of state.” They get bonus points for not realizing that Winston Churchill was not a head of state, but Prime Minister. The Queen is head of state in Great Britain. Another non-moronic game you can play at the website is a “Test of your resilience and fortitude” that involves holding down the spacebar on your keyboard as long as you can or want to. Now that’s sophistication.
- A Different Kind of Drinker: Freeing bears from traps and fishing for Marlin. Frankly I’d be worried about liability for all those different drinkers who had themselves a 12-pack and then actually tried to free a bear. I don’t see how this is in any way a departure from the same inanity that’s graced our TV sets for decades.
The ads aren’t really any worse than any other bad beer ads, but what I find troubling is how the ad agency speaks about them. Is it just me, or do their statements seems completely divorced from reality? Because if they were really setting out to show beer in a different light instead of how it’s been portrayed for a very long time, I think they utterly and completely failed in that regard. I for one, plan to not stay thirsty. Perhaps a nice beer with do the trick.
I think it’s great! It’s like, that guy is my friend, and he’s telling me that I need liquids to survive. It totally speaks to me. I feel like he’s talking directly to me, in all of his bearded glory.
My guess is they started with something different, but in refining the concept to make it more funny, less boring, and more memorable and mass-marketable, they couldn’t resist the temptation to throw in some low-brow satire and cheap TNA. Eventually they wound up exactly where they first set out avoiding: their MIM is just another cartoon character in the mold of Spuds McKenzie, Duff Man, and John “Tastes Great (Less Filling)” Madden.
This ad will sell a lot of beer. The Ernest Hemmingway figure is in most beer drinkers. Bravo!
reminds me of the whoisadamking.com campaign by Guinness in Asia some years ago: re http://www.josh.com.my/whoisadamking.com/
I love this commercial! Specially cute asian nurses! I love it!!
I’ve never seen the TV spots, but I’ve heard the radio one a few times. It makes absolutely no sense. There’s something about how on every street corner they sell sandwiches named after him. WTF? I still don’t get it at all…
These ads are actually kindof funny. But the best ever beer ads are Taste Great/Less Filling from the 80’s and the Miller hi Life guy from a few years ago.
I would have to agree with Mitch about this ad. It must be in our genes. Hello to a cousin I met only twice as a kid!
So is the man jock custo?
Have you seen the succes of this campaign and the posite coments on it?
You must be like the worst critic of advertising in the world. This has been a HUGE succes, a case study in class rooms.
Bad news, Juan, popularity does not equal quality. Plenty of poor ideas have been successful, this one being an obvious example. Please enlighten me as to what “classrooms” are teaching this campaign? As for its success, please show me the IRI or Nielsen data to support how successful it’s been, because I haven’t seen any sales figures to suggest it’s increased Dos Equis’ sales at all.
And if you can satisfactorily explain why a company that sells a thirst-quenching beverage wants their customers to “stay thirsty,” I’ll be happy to recant. Until then, I stand by my criticisms.
I have to disagree with nearly every single one of your opinions. Remarkable campaign and, as a result, I ordered my first Dos Equis (it actually wasn’t that good).
I can’t stop watching them!
Jay, Pull the stick out of your worst feature and relax. It’s a beer commercial, not fine art. It is fun to watch and the beer is pretty good too. So sip a cold one, get over yourself and realize that neither you nor Dos Equis are curing cancer or providing for the common defense.
Robert
“Stay thirsty, my friends.” That’s the by-line. First, I’m not his ‘friend’. Secondly if I drank the beer he’s pushing, then I wouldn’t BE thirsty, would I? So, obviously, he doesn’t want us to drink HIS “beer,” does he? This AD campaign is solely directed at MORONS! Besides which, the stupid beer is bottled in green bottles. It tastes like skunk. Better to stick to beers like Kokanee, who until recently, had a Ranger and a Sasquatch fighting over beer and bikini-clad chicks. Too bad they killed off the Ranger (and the Sasquatch because he needed a ranger to hunt for him — but that’s more off topic than this stupid ad.) Kokanee — better beer – better campaign. I’ve decided long ago to “stay thirsty” by not drinking some fake, “interesting man’s” beer.
I am in advertising and I also disagree with your comments. It is all subjective but those ads are more cleaver than about 85% of ads that are currently on tv. James Bond approach is just simply great.
By the way, “Stay thirsty, my friends” is there to bring you always back, just like white castle’s “what you crave” or wendy’s famous line “where’s the beef?”.
Please stop hating on the MIM. I had never heard of Dos Equis until this guy showed up on the scene. This campaign has taken an obscure (and some would say sub par) product and made it a household name…even in homes that don’t consume alcohol. Now they have great brand awareness. Will that turn into an exponential increase in sales? Maybe, maybe not, but….”He makes me buy Dos Equis…and I don’t even drink”…stay thirsty my friend…
‘Dos Equis and Tecate, two Mexican imports owned by Fomento Economico Mexicano SA, known as Femsa, had strong sales growth last year. Shipments of Dos Equis rose by 17 percent, while Tecate was up 8 percent, according to Beer Marketer’s Insights.
Sales of Dos Equis have benefited from a TV ad campaign focused on a Dos Equis fanatic described as “the most interesting man in the world,” says Don Blaustein, chief executive of the U.S. unit of Dutch brewer Heineken NV, which imports and markets the Femsa brands in the U.S. The company pumped more than $8.5 million into ads for Dos Equis last year, up from $5.6 million a year earlier, according to research firm TNS Media Intelligence. “We think we’ve caught the consumer in a good place where they’re looking for new experiences and new things,” Blaustein says.’
-http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2008/apr/06/storm_clouds_gather_corona_beer_sales_fizzle/
‘Unfortunately for The Man Your Man Could Smell Like, there is: The Most Interesting Man in the World. Since he joined forces with Dos Equis in 2006, sales have shot up significantly every year, leaping 26% since January alone, Dos Equis brand manager Ryan V. Thompson recently told me. “We’re now the fastest growing beer import in the country,” he says.'(written in July 2010, at that rate sales have increased 400% since 2006)
-http://www.fastcompany.com/1674547/the-most-interesting-man-in-the-world-dos-equis
This work for ya?!