17327: On Bringing Back Black Blasts From The Past.

The previous post on Dos Equis spotlighted a common practice among White advertising agencies, whereby iconic campaign characters are revived and/or resuscitated to reinvigorate a brand.

 

The reintroductions include gushing from CEOs, CMOs, and CCOs, revealing sales were best during promotions of the past, the updated critter will ignite a boring category, the public demanded the reappearance, blah, blah, blah.

 

Has anyone considered bringing back Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, and Rastus?

 

The same marketing criteria mentioned above can surely be applied to the famed triumvirate.

 

Hell, Honey Bunches of Oats once coaxed Diana Hunter—the Honey Bunches of Oats Lady—out of retirement.

 

Who’s next—Mia the Land O’Lakes Native American Maiden, the Frito Bandito, and Annie the Chicken Queen?

 

Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war!

17325: Dos Equis, Mas Icky.

 

Advertising Age and Adweek published lengthy content—which likely represents professionally orchestrated product PR—on Dos Equis reviving its iconic Most Interesting Man campaign.

 

Resuscitating old concepts is common in the beer category, presenting the least interesting manner to reinvigorate a brand.

 

Why wasn’t this maneuver executed entirely by AI?

 

It would be Artificial Intelligence generating Average Innovation, inspiring Alcoholic Intoxication, brought to you by Anglo Insights.

 

Stay Thirsty, My White Friends.

15403: Lost Interest In Most Interesting Old Man…?

 

Given all of the culturally clueless brand icons—including Annie the Chicken Queen—who have been erased in recent times, it’s a wonder no one protested the release of Dos Equis’ Most Interesting Man as an example of ageism.

14187: Dos Equis + Droga5 = 4Shit.

This new Dos Equis campaign from Droga5 is awful shit. The White advertising agency fired former CCO Ted Royer to ensure a safe environment for employees. But the shop is not a safe environment for iconic brands.

13705: Dos Equis Hires Gringo5.

Advertising Age reported Dos Equis dumped Havas—the White advertising agency that created “The Most Interesting Man in the World”—and handed its business to Droga5, another White advertising agency. Over the years, Havas hired White men to play the iconic Latino character. So it should be interesting to see where Droga5 takes things, given its history of cultural cluelessness, pseudo progressiveness and faux inclusiveness. Stay Exclusive, Mis Gringos.

Dos Equis Drops Agency That Created Most Interesting Man

By E.J. Schultz, Lindsay Stein.

The Most Interesting Man in the World is about to start working with a new ad agency, assuming he survives an account change on Dos Equis. Heineken USA has moved the brand from Havas Worldwide to Droga5, the marketer has confirmed to Ad Age.

Havas Worldwide created the iconic ad character in 2006 and had been handling the account since then, surviving multiple marketing executive changes at the brand. But brand-owner Heineken USA has decided to make a change less than a year after relaunching the iconic campaign with a new actor in the leading role.

“Dos Equis and Heineken USA have great appreciation for Havas’ long-standing partnership and creative collaboration, which produced the iconic advertising campaign, ‘The Most Interesting Man in the World,’” Heineken USA said in a statement. “Their work will continue through 2017. Droga5 will be the new creative agency of record for Dos Equis, and their first campaign for the brand will launch in 2018. Droga5 is well-known for breakthrough advertising and we are excited to collaborate with them on the evolution of the campaign, as well as new ways to engage our consumers.”

The move marks a return to Heineken USA by Droga5, which last summer parted ways with the marketer to join Anheuser-Busch InBev’s roster of agencies. The shop was hired to handle strategic planning and creative execution for AB InBev’s Best Damn brand of flavored malt beverages. The Dos Equis win could cause a conflict with AB InBev, but the status of the relationship is unclear. Droga5 declined comment and AB InBev spokespeople did not immediately respond to an email request for comment on Tuesday night.

Havas was not immediately available for comment.

The change comes less than a year after Dos Equis relaunched the campaign with French actor Augustin Legrand playing the lead role. He replaced Jonathan Goldsmith, the original Most Interesting Man in the World, as Dos Equis decided to go with a younger actor. The campaign was left largely intact without any major changes to the witty one-liners, like “He once cheated death, and death was perfectly OK with it.”

But Dos Equis still made tweaks to the ads. For instance, the new ads play out entirely in the present era. The old spots included footage of a younger version of the man, suggesting a bygone era. The classic tagline, “Stay Thirsty, My Friends,” was changed to “Stay Thirsty, Mis Amigos,” a play for Hispanic and bi-cultural drinkers.

Dos Equis has grown sales by 6% year-to-date, according to IRI figures cited this week by Beer Business Daily, which noted that the brand’s sales accelerated by 7% in the four week period ending May 14. But Dos Equis is still chasing hot-sellers Corona and Modelo Especial in the Mexican import segment. Corona and Modelo Especial grew by 9.1% and 21.7% respectively in the 12-week-period ending May 20, according to Nielsen data cited in a recent Wells Fargo beverage report.

Havas created the campaign when the shop was known as Euro RSCG. Karl Lieberman, then a copywriter/art director for the agency, recalled to Ad Age last year that he and his creative partner Brandon Henderson reluctantly came up with the idea about a half hour before a meeting with the executive creative director. “We were just a couple of idiots trying to make each other laugh and cobble something together for a meeting on an account we figured we’d never sell something on anyway,” said Lieberman, now the executive creative director at Wieden & Kennedy New York, where he works on Bud Light.

10526: Most Interesting Endorsement.

From The New York Daily News…

Beer ad’s ‘most interesting man in the world’ to fundraise for Obama in Vermont

The ‘most powerful man in the world’ now boasts an endorsement from ‘the most interesting man in the world.’ Actor Jonathan Goldsmith, who portrays that formidable beer lover in TV ads for Dos Equis, is headlining an Obama fundraiser in Vermont next week.

By Kristen A. Lee / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

President Obama can now boast the endorsement of “the most interesting man in the world.”

Jonathan Goldsmith, the bearded actor who plays that formidable character in commercials for Dos Equis beer, is headlining an Obama fundraiser in Vermont next week.

Goldsmith has developed a cult following for the beer ads, which feature his character performing a variety of outlandishly impressive feats: swordfighting two men at once, rescuing a bear from a steel trap, diving for sunken treasure and flirting with a series of beautiful women.

"Mosquitos refuse to bite him, purely out of respect,” one ad claims. “He is the most interesting man in the world.”

His catchphrase is: “Stay thirsty, my friends.”

Obama has recently become known as a bit of a beer lover himself.

His recent campaign appearances have included stops at local watering holes across the country, where he’ll share a beer with patrons as he makes his pitch for a second term.

The president also revealed that the White House even makes its own home brew.

But despite his apparent appreciation for the adult beverage, Obama will be at a higher-profile $40,000 a plate fundraiser with Beyonce and Jay-Z in New York City on the day of the Dos Equis pitchman’s event.

Tickets for Goldsmith’s Burlington fundraiser on Tuesday start at just $20. The actor will be joined by Shap Smith, the Democratic speaker of the Vermont House.

9996: Beer Bottle Chaser.

Advertising Age reported Dos Equis has suspended a new marketing campaign because bottle defects ignited a nationwide product recall. Lesser men drink beer straight from the bottle. The Most Interesting Man in the World drinks bottle straight from the beer.

New Marketing Push Yanked as Dos Equis Ambar Bottles Recalled

Small Bits of Glass Could Be in Beer

By E.J. Schultz

A month after premiering ads for Dos Equis Ambar, importer Heineken USA is suspending the spots as it deals with bottle defects that have prompted a recall in 43 states.

Six- and 12-packs are being removed from shelves because of a problem that could cause “small grains or particles of glass to separate from the inside lip of the bottle and fall into the liquid,” the importer said in a statement. No injuries have been reported, and the defect is estimated to be in “significantly less than 1%” of the recalled batches.

The importer must essentially pull and check all bottles on shelves now in the states, which include big markets such as New York, California, Illinois and Texas, potentially causing supply disruptions. Heineken USA is “working as quickly as possible to make sure we can backfill inventory as quickly as possible,” a spokeswoman told Ad Age. The importer pegged the defect on an unnamed third-party supplier and said that it was caught during routine inspections.

The recall comes at an especially inopportune time, because the importer is making a new marketing push on Ambar, a dark lager that accounts for about 30% of Dos Equis’ total sales. The brand for the first time is featured in TV spots as part of the Most Interesting Man in the World campaign. Only the Ambar versions of the ads will be pulled; regular Dos Equis ads will run as normal. The Ambar ads account for about 30% of the total Dos Equis media buy. The brand spent $21.9 million on measured media in 2011, according to Kantar Media.

The same defect also forced a smaller recall of low-profile brands Carta Blanca and Indio, a Mexican beer Heineken USA just brought to the states in limited distribution.