What red-blooded, beer-drinking guy doesn’t want a totally pimpin’ ride? Dartmouth, N.S.-based Extreme Group is betting a promo centred on a giveaway of three hot blinged-out vehicles will boost sales for Moosehead’s Alpine Lager.
‘Alpine Lager Win Your Dream Ride’ launched June 1 and garnered 7,000 entries in its first two weeks. It’s supported by print, radio, event, online, P-O-P and grassroots elements. Extreme even came up with spoof ads for local auto-trader mags, advertising the prizes with lines like ‘No Payments – Ever!’
Of the three radio spots, two are based on a ‘picture yourself…’ premise. ‘Desert Monkey,’ for example, features one character prompting the other to envision himself stranded in the desert and forced to choose between the beer and one of the prize vehicles. The second voice responds by asking if there will be monkeys there.
We asked Noel O’Dea, president of St. John’s, Nfld.-based agency Target Marketing & Communications, and Rico DiGiovanni, president of Toronto-based Spider Marketing Solutions, to weigh in with their verdicts.
CONCEPT
NO: No big brand idea here. Pity. The ‘opportunity’ for a regional brand is to tap into deep consumer insights and cultural icons that are uniquely relevant – and resonate strongly – in the Maritimes.
RD: The prizes will definitely attract the attention of 19- to 24-year-old male beer drinkers, and it reinforces Alpine’s positioning of ‘the cool, fresh choice of contemporary beer drinkers.’
NO: ‘More Bling’ and ‘More Envy’ are clever headlines. Nice art direction – but a completely different brand attitude than the radio spots. What about the liquid?
RD: The print ads are attractive, but they’re trying too hard to be creative. They should be prominently promoting the contest.
‘FAKIE’ ADS
NO: A nice, unexpected twist. Nice reward for the audience.
RD: I love them. What a very clever way to attract additional awareness and attention to this promotion.
P-O-P
RD: Great work here. They’ve devoted a full panel
of the case plus additional panel flashes to the promotion. The prizes and ‘win’ message are prominently communicated and the creative is clean.
RADIO
NO: Storytelling is a huge part of our cultural DNA in Atlantic Canada. Sadly, these 30-second spots settle for the expected and forced voice that is the retail wallpaper of radio: ‘Monkey’ was a nice twist.
RD: Only one spot [‘Which One,’ featuring a man trying to decide which of the three main prizes he would prefer] does the job well. That’s because the other two spend the first half of the commercial with cute equity copy before mentioning the contest. They should be all about the promotion right from the start.
The creds:
Client – Moosehead Breweries: Christine Comeau, marketing director; Jill MacLeod, brand manager, Alpine Lager; Suzanne Milner, assistant brand manager, Alpine Lager
Agency – Extreme Group: Shawn King, CD; Anthony Taafe, ACD; Sue Love, copywriter; Kevin Fidgen, AD; Brian Jamieson, managing director – NB operations; Jean-Marc Landry, AE; Rachel Landry, AE
