Begin with a Bulmers – the ad campaign that works
Let’s face it the summer of 2013 has hardly been a classic so far. In fact some would say that, even with June already here, we’re still waiting for it to start. Now and then a few heroes see some sun and step out in t-shirt and shorts – if it’s sunny, it’s hot, right? – but they look a bit silly when they’re shivering in the corner of a chilly beer garden an hour later when the sun has gone down.
Of course the dismal weather hasn‘t stopped marketers wheeling out their long planned summer campaigns, featuring the young and beautiful enjoying blue skies made that bit bluer by the presence of product X. Am I the only one left wondering where they found all that sunshine? One such hazy sun-dappled Shangri-la of a TV-ad world is presented by Bulmers in their ‘Begin with a Bulmers’ campaign. The ad shows a perfect evening’s fun in reverse, going back from a roof-top party, through an open air concert (no woolly jumpers in sight) to a bar and a flat where the first Bulmers bottles of the day make their appearance at the end of this ‘Reverse’ ad. The thing is I actually quite like it, despite my where-was-that-filmed-I bet-it-wasn’t-around-here cynicism and I’ve been trying to work out why it works for me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNrlVAGmY6c
The reason it resonates with me as a man is that it reflects how I and many of my male friends approach an evening, albeit shown in reverse. In fact it reminds me uncannily of how my mind runs back when I wake up with a hangover and think – “what happened last night?” While my female friends tend to plan every weekend and most weeknights well in advance – often weeks in advance – there are plenty of evenings when I will have nothing planned. It’s likely that my friends and I will arrange at the last minute to meet for a drink, usually in a local haunt and then go from there. It’s a common attitude among males and the reasons for it are pretty simple; it removes any requirement for commitment (yes that old chestnut – but it seems to fit well here) and leaves the option of going with the flow to wherever it seems the best party is to be had. No planning means no stress and the one decision that has to be taken – “what are we drinking?” – is removed if one starts with a certain fermented apple-based beverage.
Anecdotally a lot of guys will tell you that the best nights they’ve had are the ones which weren’t planned where they met some girls, heard about a gig, tried out a new bar etc etc. Lads don’t have the same requirement for order or security that girls have – just last weekend I was chatting to a young Australian chap in a pub who told me how he’d caught pneumonia on a St Patrick’s weekend trip to Dublin because he simply hadn’t bothered to book a room – he’d just winged it and didn’t find the ladies of the Irish capital as accommodating as he’d hoped. A classic bloke thing to do and he clearly didn’t regret it as it made for a good story.
So Bulmers have tapped into the whole swashbuckling, freewheeling gene in men with their ad and the strapline spells this out: “We don’t have a masterplan, so we don’t know where the night will take us. But one thing is certain: It will begin with a Bulmers.” So why now? Why the Summer? Well Bulmers is served over ice, as many ciders are these days, so they’re aiming to present their product as the acme of refreshment. They want the audience to think: “An ice-cold Bulmers will put me in the mood, and the evening will pretty much take care of itself.” To build on this there is a social app on the Bulmers homepage, produced by We Are Social, to let people upload their positive experiences of nights which have begun with a Bulmers. If the ad is aimed mainly at men, you can hardly blame Bulmers for that as it will take a lot for many girls to drink anything other than a chilled glass of white or roseˊ wine in the sunshine. But in fact there’s nothing particularly off-putting for girls in the ad as the ‘freewheeling male’ theme is subtly done and there is more obvious imagery of eye-catching iced drinks
Image taken from TheDrum.com
The crucial question is: will they sell more drinks? Well if you can persuade a man visiting the pub that his first drink should be a Bulmers then it’s a win: if he stays for just one or two then Heineken-Bulmers have supplied 50-100% of what he drinks and with luck he will be convinced to carry on where he has started. The clever people at Heineken have either researched or noticed a habit which is pervasive in pubs, especially men in groups, which can best be characterised by the phrase ‘same again?’ As already discussed, men like to go with the flow and are happy to have the same drink as before – so those who began with a Bulmers will probably have another.
Critics of the go-with-the-flow-the-night-will-sort-itself-out mentality will point out that very often those who make no plans run the risk of not getting in to the cool parties, unlike the backwards-walking inhabitants of the Bulmers’ urban paradise. A midnight Friday or Saturday drive through London’s West End or the high streets of many British towns will reveal night club queues peopled exclusively by young men who decided to stay for one more pint at the pub and then left too late to get into the club in good time. But young men are slow to change their habits .. . . and the Bulmers marketers will be chuckling into their pints at having fuelled this bout of hazy, sunny evening, pub-garden procrastination.