Over Beer? Canadian Club asks the big question in its latest brand campaign via The Monkeys
In a land of beer worship, Canadian Club has done the unthinkable: releasing an integrated campaign via The Monkeys, that asks Australians if they are over beer.
Created by The Monkeys, ‘The Big Question’ carries on the brand’s marketing strategy, Over Beer, which continues to see success as it enters its seventh year.
Challenging Australia’s beer drinking culture, the campaign and its refreshing alternative message sees Canadian Club challenge the perception of dark spirits and gives consumers an opportunity to question the often ‘sleep drinking’ default choice made with beer.
Upon reading the campaign script, film director Nick Kelly of The Sweet Shop says the range of characters excited him: “A lot of us are in there somewhere. I love how the main character pokes a little hole in the beer myth and accidentally kicks open the floodgates for everyone else.”
Says Scott Dettrick, creative director, The Monkeys: “The challenge was to take on beer in Australia. We drink it, our dads drink it, and their dads drank it, too. It’s in our cultural DNA. However, Australia is changing and our drink choices are too.
“The campaign shows that beer isn’t everything that it’s cracked up to be; it has been bloating our bellies and making our breath bad for far too long.”
Says Tiffany Madsen, marketing manager, Beam Suntory: “We know beer is synonymous with Australian culture, however Canadian Club’s success shows there is something in challenging the conventional wisdom of beer. When we’re given permission to not choose beer, it’s strangely liberating. We’re not suggesting Australians stop drinking beer, but rather reconsider their love affair with the liquid.”
Live from September, the campaign is set to run across broadcast, cinema, print and outdoor.
Client: Beam Suntory
Marketing Director: Trent Chapman
Marketing Manager: Tiffany Madsen
Brand Manager: Kristy Rathborne
Assistant Brand Manager: Michaela Lloyd Jones
Creative Agency: The Monkeys
Founder/CCO: Scott Nowell
Creative Director: Scott Dettrick
Senior Copywriter: Andrew Fraser
Managing Director: Matt Michael
Group Content Director: Humphrey Taylor
Content Director: Sam Wallace
Content Manager: Bec Barnier
Head of Production: Thea Carone
Senior Producer: Jade Rodriguez
Head of Planning: Michael Hogg
Strategic Planner: Laura McRae
Production Company: The Sweet Shop
Director: Nick Kelly
Executive Producer: Edward Pontifex & Loren Bradley
DOP: Stefan Duscio
Managing Director: Wilf Sweetland
Post Production: The Editors
Editor: Stuart Morley
Music: SongZu
36 Comments
What the fuck is this shit?
The Works ads for CC weren’t very good, but these are even worse. Very surprised by that.
A white bloke and another white bloke sit at a bar….
Makes for a boring joke doesn’t it?
Diversity is good people. Don’t be afraid.
What was that?The new NRMA client might be having a rethink.
Whether I was over beer or not, I sure as hell know that I would not be replacing it with this weak-ass piss water excuse for a whisky.
Big improvement over the previous work imo
Have nothing to do with either agency.
Awesome work guys, love it.
Me too.
The Effie winning work by The Works continues to work.
@Rowena… you must be from the losing side?
The script actually isn’t awful but everything about the execution is
I can tell you are over beer. I like Canadian club. something about it. Their spots don’t win awards I guess but work hard. it is good.
I actually paid attention to this when it came on. And smiled (couldn’t crack a laugh, unfortunately). I wouldn’t drink the stuff, but it shits all over the old CC work IMO.
Had not really noticed Canadian Club until now. So.
Said it before.
Will say it again.
Monkeys are on a roll!!!
Whether Lamb or Canadian Club float your boat or not the Monkeys are the shizzle of 2017. .
Casting and performances are great
Interesting creative + bad strategy = bad ad.
Should communicate what’s +ve, unique about CC.
p.s guys still enjoy beer.
‘Casting and performance are great’ according to TTT.Hope he/she is not directing my next script.Actually is it just me or are a lot of Monkeys TVCs just a bit overacted?The lamb stuff in particular.
You are obviously sniffing for a job. And you obviously have never worked there, or your blind praise wouldn’t be smothered on so thick.
Powerful strategy + disruptive creative + hard working communication = Long term success + Effie GP winner.
p.s guys still enjoy beer and other drinks = big opportunity pool
I expect a certain amount of self promotion from agencies, but the Monkeys staff are genuinely nauseating on here at the moment.
It reminds me of the ‘DDBOOM!’ days, which are thankfully long gone.
This ad is shit.
Generic, overacted and a poor insight.
But the juniors of the industry who seem to swarm here like to kiss their balls, so what can the professionals do?
Monkey see. Monkey poo.
This is clearly a missed opportunity in what should’ve been a famous campaign in a category that’s doing very ordinary work.
I have to agree with some earlier posts that the previous work from The Works was in fact better and funnier and landed the “over beer” message in a much stronger way. Not sure why a client would pitch an account to then make this.
Yes the strategy is the creative idea but the Monkeys should’ve know better than to have created this lame execution. Between the dancing ads, singing ads and political guff their work is suffering at the expense of positive PR and great Effie papers.
Time to focus on living up to your hype and making better ideas especially when your measured closely to agencies like Clem’s Melbourne but their work is light years ahead of you.
Best ad i have seen for a good while, great work
It is NOT OK for the woman to fat shame the man who says that he’s waiting for it to grow on him. Her comment along with the knowing look at his belly is a blatant attempt to demean the man because of his physical appearance. This type of advertising should not be tolerated.
Really annoyed that it is ok for the man with the large belly to be ridiculed. Let’s try fat shaming a women’s big fat ass by two men and see how that goes. Apologize!
Body shaming in your commercial? So not cool– welcome to 2018. As if drinking whiskey with pop has no calories?
I don’t know what all you people are talking about. I thought the script was great, performances were good, and the commercial as a whole was hilarious. Maybe it’s because I can relate not liking beer, maybe it’s because I am Canadian, or maybe it’s simply because you people have nothing better to do than pick apart the agencies that make the commercial just because of who they are. I am completely unbiased in that sense, and I give the commercial 8 out of 10 stars
Oh and as for the “fat shaming”, obviously the point is to say beer will make your gut big. If it was a real person then no it would not be ok, but it was just an actor. it’s not aimed to put down overweight people, it’s meant to put down beer. The actor was fine with it, so should you be
If it was opposite, so an overweight woman saying, I’m waiting for it to grow on me and a man saying, I think it has, the internet would lose its mind
LOL, the Canadian version of this commerical has voiceovers.
I notice they fat shame men in this commercial, and also have him wearing tired old clothes. So what I take from that is cc thinks overweight people have no style, and its ok to shame them in public.
Tried a middy of this at the Wauchope RSL, never again will i try this drink two mouthfuls and i returned the glass complete with 90% of the contents just to let them know it was rubbish.
IF you wish for Canadian Club to change people’s taste from beer —- then you should reduce your retail price which currently stands at approx. TWICE that of a can of beer !!! We would make the change from beers, but ONLY IF your product sold for about 1.5 times that of most beers.
Great so now it’s a great travesty for a white guy to be friends with another white guy. Wtf it’s a damn commercial. I’m not dropping my true friends due to your woke bullshit.
Sorry, but switching to this mass produced premix of whiskey and ginger ale/cola at over twice the price (as per J Wagner) is hardly entertaining, given the delightful range of bespoke brewer’s offering locally produced craft beers. Support your local brewery rather than some global brand.
I came up with this ‘over beer’ slogan as part of a competition here in Australia a long time ago, to win a year’s supply of CC. I obviously won the comp but CC have never paid up! Robbed…
Beer is so much better than a CC mixer. I’d rather drink wine.