You can tell how a nation sees men by its beer ads? The men in adam&eve/DDB’s new Fosters UK ad and Host’s new Tooheys Aus ad are not what you’re used to. adam&eve/DDB launched a new Fosters ad in the UK this week about pursuing your dream. Host launched a Tooheys retrospective in Aus.
Neither is the story that just formed in your head.
Host’s Tooheys retrospective has glided over the brand’s advertising history, in which blokes only hung out with blokes, and only felt passion about beer and sport.
Tooheys 2015 looks back at a family man. He cooks, helps around the house and when he’s hanging with the boys, they’re doing something useful together.
In the UK, Fosters has taken an even greater leap for mankind.
For the last six years, Fosters has been all about two Aussie larrikins, Brad and Dave, and the cliché of the Aussie bad boy.
Not any more. Good Call – and Brad & Dave – have been replaced by Why the Hell Not?, and an average bloke who does what it takes to become a cheerleader…Sure, the pay off is that he gets a front row seat at every one of his team’s games, but that is presented as benefit on the side. The point of his story is written on the wall of his change room – Whatever it Takes. That message is underline in the moment by the fact that he has his own, lonely, change room because he’s the only boy in the squad.
#whythehellnot was created by Ben Stilitz and Colin Booth, who were part of adam&eve’s massive hiring spree in July last year. They moved across from Fallon Minneapolis and the US.
The director and production company, though, are Australian – Gary Freedman and The Glue Society.
The new direction is not criticism of Good Call or Brad & Dave. The campaign won the IPA Effectiveness Awards Grand Prix in 2014. Its ROI in the UK translated to £32 (AU$48) for every £1 (AU$1.50) spent on advertising.
Both ads reflect the idea that there is social change occurring in both countries. It could well be that Kleenex’ Soften Up Australia campaign by J.Walter Thompson that launched in May…
… John Smith’s Only ordinary by Name that launched in the UK in May (NB: also by adam&eve/DDB)
and Dove Men + Care #RealStrength have picked up on a gender shift too.
You might also like
