One of our favorite ad campaign “genres” is the battle royale. You know, Coke vs. Pepsi, Bud Light vs. Miller Lite, fast food industry vs. McDonald’s so on and so forth. Competition always brings out the best in ads; and the latest campaign from Newcastle Beer (designed by Droga5) is no different.
Newcastle sees itself as a down-to-earth, blue collar kind of beer. One that doesn’t try to be anything more than what it is. The campaign paints Stella Artois as too extravagant. As the photo here says, who DOES use the word chalice? George R. R. Martin? We love the humor here, while still getting the point across. Newcastle is saying, “We are the real beer here. We know who we are, and we’re comfortable with that.”
A sense of humor about who you are as a brand, and poking fun at your competitor when they take themselves too seriously, is always a good thing. The AdAge article hits the nail on the head when it says, “the campaign, which is meant to be aggressively yet humorously anti-bollocks, with the hoary clichés of the entire beer category as its target.” Humorous ads tend to stick in the mind of a consumer more. Think about how many Super Bowl ads you’ve seen that are trying to get a laugh out of you. Many more than the opposite. What do you think of the Newcastle campaign? Any favorite “competitor” campaigns? What about your favorite funny ad? Let’s armchair quarterback these topics in the comments.
