Carlton Draught says ‘Long Live the Keg’ in first major ad campaign in over 5 years via Clemenger
Australia’s best tap beer Carlton Draught is reviving its tradition of epic ad campaigns with an unashamed tribute to the pub, in new work, developed by Clemenger BBDO, set to rival the great beer ads Carlton & United Breweries brands are famous for.
The new campaign is titled Long Live The Keg and builds on Carlton Draught’s iconic brand platform, Made From Beer.
Featuring bagpipes, a choir, the Carlton Draught Beer Brigade and even cannon fire, the hero spot is overflowing with the pomp and pageantry befitting the end of a keg’s life.
Says Nicole McMillan, general manager of marketing at Carlton & United Breweries: “Carlton Draught is one Australia’s most iconic and loved beers. It’s a true reflection of Aussie culture – always having a laugh and not taking yourself too seriously.
“This is an important moment in time for Carlton Draught as we build on the momentum of last year and ride the renaissance that classic beer is experiencing in the market.
“Our proud tradition of brewery-fresh beer dates back to 1864 when the first batch of Carlton was delivered to pubs by the same Clydesdales that grace our taps today. This ad is for everyone who cherishes the pub, and we want it to help get people back to their local. Pubs are in our DNA, and we’re proud to support them.”
Historically, Carlton Draught’s campaigns have each pierced the bubble on life’s absurdities.
Long live The Keg continues that strategy.
Says Jim Curtis, chief creative officer at Clemenger BBDO: “We all know the agonising feeling of waiting for a new keg to be hooked up. We used this relatable moment to poke fun at the ridiculous amount of pomp and ceremony in the world.
“Sure, the CFO at CUB might not be happy with us changing every single Carlton Draught keg in the country with a 60-strong crew of ceremonial guards, choir and canons. But great marketing always treats the product with reverence, and Carlton Draught never disappoints in this area.”
The campaign will come to life across TV, OOH, Digital, PR, and AFL Sponsorship.
Client: Carlton & United Breweries
General Manager – Marketing CUB: Nicole McMillan
Head of Classic Beer Brands – Marketing: Sarah Wilcox
Marketing Manager – Carlton Draught: Zac Gelman
Assistant Brand Manager – Carlton Draught: Tess Penfold
Creative Agency: Clemenger BBDO
Production:
Director – Steve Ayson (3&7)
Executive Producer/Producer: Julianne Shelton
Cinematographer: Sam Chiplin
Casting Director: Peta Einberg
Production Designer: Damien Drew
Costume: Paula Ryan
Offline Editor: Jack Hutchings – ARC EDIT
Offline Producer: Winnie O’Neill
Colourist: Billy Wychgel
Visual Effects: Blockhead VFX
Music Composition/Execution: Sonar Music
Composer: Jackson Milas
Musical Director: Cameron Bruce
Music Producer and Engineer: Joshua Pearson
Sound House: Rumble Studios
Sound Engineer: Anthony Aston
79 Comments
Absolutely love it.
Very very good.
Simple. Well executed. Funny.
Well done.
Could it be? An ad in the style of the ads that made me want to get into advertising in the first place 15 years ago?
Are we finally back!?
to the return of great Aussie beer advertising. Really nicely done.
It’s also Clemenger’s first half decent ad in 5 years, shame they had to revive a classic to get there.
The beer ad is back, long live the beer ad.
How good is our colonial past!
Without it, what reference to culture would there be?
this is sick
Impressive effort to get an idea like this up these days, past testing and all that. Well played.
This is truly a good jumpstart to Australia’s great beer advertising. Punters will love this and other agencies will finally learn mediocre beer ads would never last for long.
This is proper good.
How much did they get paid to copy an episode of Cheers, and people are celebrating this???
It’s a ‘yes’ from me. Nice work.
Yes! Finally! The big beer ad is back, loved this.
Approved.
No stupid societal message, no woke rubbish, no guilt-viewing required, just a bloody good ad.
Oh, how I’ve missed you.
What a strange, unfortunate ad. The punter ordering the beers looks pissed off – as you would if a load of unasked for, unfunny colonial pageantry interrupted you trying to get a beer – and then an old bloke nicks your beer at the end anyway. The symbolism is bizarre, the average viewer isn’t going to laugh, it’s as dead as the Victorian nonsense it’s attempting to revive.
You strike me as not the sort of person I’d be keen to have a beer with. Perhaps the sentiment is mutual. I don’t know. It’s an ad. It’s not a literal depiction of anything.
It is a piss-take of the Queen’s death. It is not trying to revive anything. You know what needs reviving? Your sense of humour by the sounds of it. It isn’t brilliant, but solid, and a great return for fun ads in the category.
Doesn’t compare to the latest Bud Light campaign.
Bring back the silliness!
A billion times more fun than the self righteous dribble from Bud Light.
Steve Ayson back to what he does best. Nailed it.
Great to see The Bells Hotel immortalised here. Just lovely.
@union jacked … if you are serious, you need to get a sense of humour. If you don’t like colonialism (and sure its got problems) then this is taking the piss out of it, you should be happy.
for the sake of silly
BBDO yet again with the totally outdated and 1990’s stills.
I don’t like this at all – confused by all of the positive comments. It is so stupid. but I guess after the big AD, everything pales in significance
This has to be the weakest Carlton work. That is, trying to do big work that really isn’t big work.
Oh how cliche too, using Bells Hotel. It must be the only pub in all of Melbourne that CUB and Clems can access.
@Hells Bells um whoops… the cliched Bells Hotel is in err Sydney not Melbourne
Carlton Natural Blonde “what’s that taste” was better creative than this.
Wow – I cant believe that the whole ‘get the agency to load the CB post with positive comments’ is still around. Check out the socials for people really think.
This is great. Well done Clems. The puff and pageantry around something so basic as a dead keg is exactly what the ‘Made from beer’ positioning has been crying out for. And great to see the line revived, hey Mr. Keogh?
When all else has failed, go back to something that worked in the 00’s.
If I had a sense of humour I’d live in Melbourne.
Seriously good. Any negative comments on this absolutely stink of jealousy.
The most creative part of this has been the comments praising it. In reality this is a long dull film that hasn’t got any emotive pull. I get the whole changing a keg is our moment to dramatize thing, but this has just made everything feel sad, not refreshing or appetizing at all. The colonial thing isn’t going to resonate with modern Aussie beer drinkers but that’s the least of your problems with this. The big ads were able to work as 90sec films because they were engaging and entertaining. This will need media behind it and a version that they can afford to put out in the world unskippable is going to be horrific.
No emotion.
And def wrong with the red coats as lacks the humour to carry it off.
Finally a brand, concept and excution that entertains. Step in the right direction. Tip my hat!
@XXXX the positive comments are from the agency. The negative ones are from the rest of the industry. This ad is as old, pale, male and stale as a keg decades past its use-by date.
Even if your analysis of the creative merits of this ad are correct, maybe, “old, pale, male and stale,” is the brand’s target market. Last time I checked, that’s still a sizeable demographic in this country.
Yeahhh, we don’t do that anymore. Take your insufferable woke nonsense elsewhere please.
@@unionjacked. Do you know what woke is? And who is we? Is that you?
It’s drivel, not dribble.
Anyone shitcanning this is bitter as hell. And no, I don’t work at Clems. Also shoutout to Ant (not Keogh) and Rich who aren’t credited but I know through word of mouth it came from their brainholes. Thank you for bringing the fun back lads.
Where are the other 2 pots he ordered apart from the one that was stolen? I would have ordered a Coopers whilst all this crap was going on…
So when does Carlton move all of their brands to The Monkeys?
Only thing going for Carlton is the fact Lion is doing worse work.
Bud Light however is in a league of its own.
Where as I would happily sign off a BIG idea that includes 60 strong changing every keg, what I won’t do is sign off a bonus for work like this a second time. Back to catalogue ads and the commercial team driving brand building. I’m so happy we have the great Northern team.
This is more like an ad for the pub and not the beer.
That’s kinda the strategy.
This is good work.A fun,
topical idea in keeping with the creative legacy of the brand.Can the naysayers just back off for once.
Come again????
“ build on the momentum of last year and ride the renaissance that classic beer is experiencing in the market.”
Seriously, it’s a bit of fun. Can’t wait for the monarchists to label this as ‘offensive’… reverse wokeism.
The biggest problem I have with this is that it’s not Rivet.
While I can very easily sit here and share another subjective view on creative approach, treatment, narrative or whether I like this ad or not (which I’ve got to say is very average especially considering what the budget would have been and the opportunity to have created something to the standard of this brand’s historical creative portfolio) the deciding factor of whether this is a good ad or not will be if it sells beer. And if it does, it will prove to myself that I know bugger all about ads.
Not the greatest beer ad, but far better than the likes of XXXX, Furphy and Hahn.
I wanted to love it but it was just an over styled and overcooked bit of meh that reminded me of a keg funeral in a XXXX ad I saw somewhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtH1ZSo6UaE
Ouch. And funnier, too. While this doesn’t hold a candle to canoe, horses, big ad, flash beer, sky troopers, or beer chase, it’s a baby step in the right direction. Maybe next time they’ll get their gag from a writer instead of an 80s sitcom.
I knew I had seen this before somewhere. Who needs a brass band when you can have a bunch of friends who all enjoy beer just having a laugh together. Effortlessly funnier.
Buuuuurrrrrnnnn baby. Double Ouch!
@cheers a baby step is a huge overstatement. Not even close and the whisper is it cost a great deal more than 3 of those mentioned. @flem can attest.
Bring back Kevin K
Yikes. But in fairness, BBDO, like most network agencies, is unlikely to have any creatives who were born when Cheers was on TV let alone of an age to have enjoyed watching it.
The creative team are over 40. They grew up with Cheers.
YIKES. “The keg is dead. Long live the keg.” This is going to cause a riot.
Ok boomer. I saw that one ad you made in an episode of I Love Lucy.
Wow. You’re a little late to the party with yesteryear’s insult. What’s your next expression? Wazzup?? Young guy.
Big Oof. What’s that saying about original ideas?
Can someone from clems say ‘yep that’s where we took the idea from’ there’s no harm in it As Lou reed or david Bowie said it’s not where you take ideas from it’s where you take them to.
Where they took it to is terrible – but that’s another point
i’ve watched it a few times and it still leaves me totally cold. if it’s actually a satire of the absurdity of the british empire in the modern day aimed at bringing australia one step closer to growing up and becoming a republic i’m all for it….but i think they were trying to be funny, like cheers
Perhaps that’s why there’s no self congratulating agency credits
‘the absurdity of the british empire in the modern day aimed at bringing australia one step closer to growing up and becoming a republic i’m all for it….’
And here we go trying to shoehorn a cause and make everything socio-political again. Is the next generation of junior creatives having a tough time wrapping their heads around the concept of taking the piss out of something for the sake of having a laugh?
Accusation that any positive comments come from the agency that produced it…check
Link to something that might be where the idea came from…check
Lots of comments about not liking the ad but no real insight into the target audience and why the ad wouldn’t work…check
No one from the agency cares about your snide little comment(s) on an industry blog, mate.
An ad about a keg? What was the brand again? Don’t they all come in kegs?
The reason people are not keen on this is because it’s so boring…..
One of the biggest brands in Australia. A budget 3-4 times that of most TVCs….
And you decide the script should open with – ‘A guy in a pub’
It is a boring, pedestrian, conservative and forgetful idea.
Carlton Draught is selling so slow these days i too woukd celebrate the changing of a keg.
Great work. Another insight Carlton Draught is well out of the top 10 alc brands in Aus and is heading one way.
The keg is dead long live the keg
Joshua Pearson is the goat
I think it’s bloody funny. I’m disappointed it’s not original though and I now remember it from my childhood watching cheers. I’m obviously over 40 nit maybe that’s ok because I actually have money to buy stuff.
Love this ad! I haven’t seen it on TV here in Oz. Where is it being shown? TV? Cinema? Australia? Overseas?