I have, for a long time, been a keen observer of all things beer related. One special area of interest is beer advertising. I love a cleverly crafted and deftly executed promotion for a beer – and even a beer that I would not necessarily drink myself. A good beer ad is just a good thing.
For the past ten years or so, mid-strength beers have made a mark on the Australian beer landscape, particularly in Western Australia and Queensland and for the past eight years the nations leading brand has been XXXX Gold - due in no small way to the long running series of ads featuring four very ‘Queensland’ blokes.
Macca, Harry, PJ, Jacko and Marlin the dog were seen in a dozen or so holiday situations with each zany encounter saved or made special by the frosty cans of XXXX Gold. The fact that these four soap-dodgers were able to holiday almost permanently while showing no signs of the skill or intellect required to hold down suitable jobs did not seem to be an issue. Nor was the fact that they always holidayed without wives/girlfriends/partners/de-factos/hookers any reason to suggest that they may have, in fact, been ... hmmm ... girl shy? After all, Marlin the dog was the only one ever to have any success in that regard when he ended it up in a spa tub full of titties.
Anyway, the ad agency for XXXX has come up with a new campaign for the Gold brand and, well, I just don’t get it. In fact, I have researched the whole campaign and have read the ideas behind it and the strategy that they are using and I STILL don’t get it!
The four easy to recognise and very caricatured blokes have been replaced by an amorphous, beige-coloured, confusing set of ‘mates’ who decide to build a boat because they can’t get a garden shredder to work. Or something. I don’t get it. It turns out, as the ads go on, that there are actually three different sets of mates each building a boat. I still don’t get it. Maybe because XXXX Gold is a mid-strength beer it indicates that you can drink plenty and still operate mains-powered tools? Maybe it is saying that even XXXX mid-strength is enough to make you and your mates decide to embark on a time consuming and useless endeavour like building a boat?
Check out the ads here and let me know if you know what these blokes are up to - and why.
Cheers
Prof. Pilsner
For the past ten years or so, mid-strength beers have made a mark on the Australian beer landscape, particularly in Western Australia and Queensland and for the past eight years the nations leading brand has been XXXX Gold - due in no small way to the long running series of ads featuring four very ‘Queensland’ blokes.
Macca, Harry, PJ, Jacko and Marlin the dog were seen in a dozen or so holiday situations with each zany encounter saved or made special by the frosty cans of XXXX Gold. The fact that these four soap-dodgers were able to holiday almost permanently while showing no signs of the skill or intellect required to hold down suitable jobs did not seem to be an issue. Nor was the fact that they always holidayed without wives/girlfriends/partners/de-factos/hookers any reason to suggest that they may have, in fact, been ... hmmm ... girl shy? After all, Marlin the dog was the only one ever to have any success in that regard when he ended it up in a spa tub full of titties.
Anyway, the ad agency for XXXX has come up with a new campaign for the Gold brand and, well, I just don’t get it. In fact, I have researched the whole campaign and have read the ideas behind it and the strategy that they are using and I STILL don’t get it!
The four easy to recognise and very caricatured blokes have been replaced by an amorphous, beige-coloured, confusing set of ‘mates’ who decide to build a boat because they can’t get a garden shredder to work. Or something. I don’t get it. It turns out, as the ads go on, that there are actually three different sets of mates each building a boat. I still don’t get it. Maybe because XXXX Gold is a mid-strength beer it indicates that you can drink plenty and still operate mains-powered tools? Maybe it is saying that even XXXX mid-strength is enough to make you and your mates decide to embark on a time consuming and useless endeavour like building a boat?
Check out the ads here and let me know if you know what these blokes are up to - and why.
Cheers
Prof. Pilsner
