Brands Use Character To Profit
Posted Jan 14, 2012
I get a kick out of the high-brow copywriting from the Dos-Equis commercials. You know, the ads showing the amazing exploits of a seasoned bearded man and a voice over highlighting said accomplishments of the Most Interesting Man in the World? One of my personal favorites is…
“His words carry weight that would break a less interesting man’s jaw.”
However, I did see this good one on Facebook the other day…
“Being fashionably late to a party ends the minute he arrives.”
Anyway, all comedy aside…you’d be surprised how effective these commercials have been for the Heineken company (Yes Heineken sells Dos Equis…I didn’t know that either). According to the January 9-15 issue of Bloomberg Businessweek, these commercials have rocketed Dos Equis sales up an impressive 21.5% compared to only 3.9% for Heineken. While retro cool in their own sense the Heineken commercials appear to not have the selling power that a funny mega-viral campaign has with a branded character.
If only we businesses could bottle that marketing magic every time. How did they do it? Well, humor in advertising is like a comic book super power only an elite few are lucky enough to bend it to their will. I am pretty sure the gentleman character they ended up with was an offshoot of the Chuck Norris jokes.
I applaud the director in deciding upon using a more exotic old-world European man to play the part. But where the real genius comes in is that they spread the message first through YouTube and Facebook. I think it’s great that they invite others in contests to come up with more “Interesting Man-isms”.
So let this be a lesson to you small businesses out there, read between the lines and get inspired by the articles in your magazines! You never know when a great idea that you can replicate is going to show you the way to success. God knows many of us would love a 22% increase in sales in 2012.