"I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I smile. Because I smile in every frame of the TV spot now."
The Most Interesting Man In The World is back except he's a different most interesting man in the world. He's now French actor, 41 year old Augustin Legrand. Wrap your head around that. Two most interesting men. Who knew. This new guy is a few decades younger, (the OG MIMITW, Jonathan Goldsmith, was 77) and now traverses the world with a lady in tow. Did I mention he smiles a lot?
VO:
Dentists hate him, but also love him, and secretly want to be him.
When it's time to take the photo, he he has to tell the camera to smile.
His smile made other teenagers need braces.
When he walks into the DMV...
Okay you get the point. The dude smiles. A lot. They should have called it The Guy Who Can't Stop Smiling. It's like The Ring. Once you see his smile you are done. Also, the strong silent girlfriend type doesn't really add much to the story. And, as with all clueless marketing experts like those at Heineken who chase the Millennial Dragon, they believed an old guy couldn't sell beer, despite the campaign being a phenomenal success in its ten year run, to that point. Ask yourself-- if an old guy in your ad isn't "resonating," why'd you keep him around for a decade? I mean the entire campaign was ripped off from Chuck Norris Facts and Chuck himself is now just one year younger than when Goldsmith stopped making these ads. Stay ageist, my friends.
Despite the excitement, the campaign has oddly been scrubbed of weirdness and edge. Remember the original Most Interesting Man chasing a leopard out of his kitchen? His pet leopard? Or the way the style of film would change to make it feel like people were there to document the whole thing? As if to say from birth till now the guy was always like that? Now the campaign feels more one take, and more theatrical, like it was meant for the parent company's other brand: Heineken.
And sanitized, too. Sure, they throw knives-- to make a whale drawing! Yes they engage in martial arts-- but he smiles at a butterfly! Yes they are in Africa, but-- he's tailgating and watching college football? Because now there's a win college football playoff tickets sweepstakes involved. Could any of this be less interesting? Will they recycle their Dos Equis bottles next? Perhaps break out their coloring books? Write a Yelp review? Spend two hours arguing with their Facebook friends about politics?
And so now we have to get used to this character all over again like a new James Bond. Fair enough, things change. But Mister Smile and his silent sidekick better get more interesting. Speaking of the woman, she feels like she's been introduced in a cynical tactic to appeal to women without actually having to do much to the formula. Which makes her feel like a token character. Which may cause the same demographic they desperately want to appeal to, to start complaining. Remind me again why do we make this demographic the focal point of anything? Regardless if these two don't work out, I know a man and woman who no longer representing a beer. Perhaps they'll be a better fit?
Client: HEINEKEN USA
Agency: Havas Worldwide New York
Chief Creative Officer of the Americas: Toygar Bazarkaya
Chief Creative Officer of North America: Jason Peterson
Group Executive Creative Director, Managing Director: Jason Musante
Executive Creative Director: Jim Hord
Group Creative Directors: Keith Scott, Paul Johnson
Creative Directors: Jonas Wittenmark, Tobias Carlson, Paul Fix
Associate Creative Directors: Matthew Hock, David Fredette
Global Chief Executive Officer: Andrew Benett
Global Chief Revenue Officer, Global Chief Marketing Officer: Matt Weiss
New York President: Laura Maness
Group Account Director: Chris Budden
Account Directors: Jamie Sundheim, Michelle Garrard
Account Supervisors: Wendy Hu, Jenny Maughan
Chief Strategy Officer, North America: Tim Maleeny
Brand and Digital Strategy Director: Maggie Gross
Senior Strategists: Stacey Kawahata, Cassie Taylor
Director of Social Marketing: Larry Lac
Social Strategist: Rachel Korenstein
Social Coordinator: Katie Campo
Global Chief Content Officer: Vin Farrell
Heads of Content, North America: Dave Evans, Sylvain Tron
Executive Producer: Jill Meschino
Junior Producers: Lauren O'Driscoll, Alex Zubak
Director of Broadcast Business Affairs: Cathy Pitegoff
Senior Broadcast Business Manager: Deborah Steeg
Senior Talent Specialist: Yvette Aponte
Production Company: Traktor
Director: Traktor
Director of Photography: Hoyte Van Hoytema
Executive Producer: Rani Melendez
Production Company: Rattling Stick
Executive Producer: Joe Biggins
Head of Production: Richard McIntosh
Controller: Christine Berentsen
Staff Coordinator: Hayley Wyett
Editing Company: Final Cut
Editor: Rick Russell
Executive Producer: Stephanie Apt
Visual Effects: The Mill
Chief Creative Officer, New York: Angus Kneale
Executive Producer: Verity Graham
Visual Effects Shoot Supervisor: Tara Demarco
Senior Flame Artist: Michael Smith
Sound Design: Yessian
Sound Designer: Weston Fonger
Executive Producer: Marlene Bartos
Telecine: Company 3
Colorist: Tom Poole
Producer: Clare Movshon
Audio: Sound Lounge
Sound Engineer: Tom Jucarone
Music: Beacon Street Music
Composers: Beacon Street Studios
Executive Producer: Adrea Lavezzoli
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I hate this. We gave the most interesting man in the world such an excellent farewell, and I thought that was nice because often long-running campaigns end abruptly due to an actors illness or other unforseen events. So I figured they would return, clean slated and WOW us again with another great campaign. Why do I still have hope for advertising?
But of course not. The client has fallen into the trap "do it the same as before just different", and are so obviously waving research around here. "We need a woman, women don't identify with the most interesting MAN in the world" and so he has a silent sidekick because that's not pandering and insulting...
It doesn't just seem ageist, it seems pretentious. You may be able to change the course of television history by a simple camera-overlap between one Dr Who actor to another. You may build a movie empire on several actors playing the same secret agent... But to think your commercial campaign can measure up to that is hubris plain and simple. We may have a new Colonel every other week, but his replacements are celebrities in their own right and that is the crispy joke.
This was a waste of an opportunity to make a fresh campaign. I predict outrage on Twitter soon because the most interesting man in the world is still "a f*cking while male" when they could have replaced him with Idris Elba.
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PermalinkThere is only one Most Interesting Man in the World. This was a dumb idea.
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