Heineken’s walk-in fridge spoofed by Bavaria. The pay-off ‘Zo’ basically stands for ‘after this great accomplishment, I deserve a Bavaria’. The ad was brilliantly conceived by Selmore. The message is clear; Bavaria is not for sissies. The execution could have been done better, but Selmore’s Oliver Koning assured us they had very little time to shoot it. This is not the first time Bavaria borrows a competitor’s advertising property; it used a character from the immensely popular ‘Amstel-friends’ commercials that ran in 2003. Here’s an example (“Hey, guys… Haven’t you started yet?”) – awarded with a Golden Loeki. In 2004 Bavaria made a commercial with two of these friends, just after Amsel had announced to ‘kill’ them. Bavaria put them on a bounty island and made them open a bottle of Bavaria (‘Zo’). Amstel (also owned by Heineken) was not amused. And talking about actors that work for different beer brands: the Bavaria actor in this spoof is Marc Bennink, creative director at UbachsWisbrun/JWT. Earlier he played in a Dommelsch beer commercial that also won a Gouden Loeki (in 2000).

Heineken has a history of launching premiums – to be obtained through a crate of beer – before the European and World Championship of football. The last 4 tournaments Heineken’s agency TBWA created all sorts of hats that enabled the audience to make some noise during the matches – last time, in South Africa, it was the Pletterpet. This spring – getting ready for Euro2012 – Heineken (and TBWA) not only exchanged the hat for a shirt, it also changed the tone of the commercial around the event. The advertising now feels weirdly incongruent; it starts with three guys that seem to have walked out of a bad Italian car commercial. And then it continues with ‘international’ shots. Even the ‘drinking-with-mates-in-a-bar’ shot is anything but Dutch – with fake bar and exotic models. The only thing that is really Dutch about the commercial is the KLM plane wearing an orange shirt and the ‘haha’ joke with ex international Ronald Koeman at the end. It feels as if the Dutch beer brewer was in a split between being the global, cosmopolitan brand and a chauvinistic football friend that wants to sell as much beer as possible in the supermarket. Well, in our opinion, it’s none of the above and stuck in the middle. And when you ask yourself what’s up with the numbers, you have to guess, cause the voice-over only speaks of supporting Orange with ‘your legendary deed.’ Oh well, whatever, we’ll probably drink a few Heinies during Euro2012 anyway.

It always feels a bit awkward when a government is trying to speak youthful – or worse, with a ‘rappy’ tone of voice – to teenagers. Especially when communicating that you shouldn’t use a knife in personal conflicts, but your voice; ‘spreekwapens’ (speaking weapons) instead of ‘steekwapens’ (pointed weapons) – making a good pun in Dutch. A bit of a Catch22 from a communication perspective; if the target is willing to engage, it’s probably not the target. And those who are the target are probably not willing to engage – they just see it as a rap video, at best. The reason why we posted it anyway, is that we like the technique that is being used for the 360° video; you can actually turn your viewpoint around with your pointer and see Sticks and Rico (from Opgezwolle and Fakkelbrigade) rap into the camera and skateboarders and BMX’ers perform tricks in a skate park – a form of navigation that we all know from gaming, but is not yet very often used in advertising. On the YouTube site the target can upload a self-made ‘spreekwapen’ (read: video). Created by JWT Amsterdam and produced by Electric Zoo.

Photo: Maurice Mikkers
The biggest winner last night at the ADCN (Dutch Art Director’s Club) awards was Lemz. All the ‘bulbs’ – of which one was a Grand Prix (the very best integrated work) – went to their Fireworks campaign. Our very favourite campaign of the year Domino’s Pizza Pepperoni by Indie won one Golden and two Silver bulbs (TV, internet and activation) – in our opinion it was at least as good as Lemz’ work. Wieden also won one Gold and two Silver for Heineken’s ‘The making of The Date’ (internet, TV, and activation). Selmore won Gold for Bavaria and Hugh Heffner – so we can be sure that Charlie Sheen will also win Gold next year. We were a bit surprised that N=5 won Gold for Telfort – not really our taste. Y&R won one Gold and two Silver for LG’s ‘smart thief‘ (internet, TV, and viral). A bit strange that alle these films are winning different prizes for the different channels through which they are broadcasted – does the channel matter? Another one of our favourites was Hema’s with a push-up bra in print, promoted by a male model, going viral big time – by Doom & Dickson. It won Gold and Silver. Note: Hema is one of the most down to earth department stores in the Netherlands. TBWA won Gold with its print campaign for DIY chain Gamma; free Lego – “Just like dad.” In Interactive Tribal DDB won Gold and Silver for ‘Obsessed with Sound’ for Philips. One of the most impactful commercials of the year by Publicis for ALS won Silver – “I have died by now.” Special bulbs went to Mischa Rozema (for directing OFFF), Christian Borstlap (art direction and illustration, for LV and Mr Porter), and Simon Warner (photgraphy, for Octopus).

Dutch insurer Nationale Nederlanden introduces the damage manager. He (or she) makes the handling of your damage cases so personal that you’ll easily build up a special relationship – “Hey, Joost, it’s Merel. This time it’s my car.” In fact, Nationale Nederlanden could start a dating platform on the side – “What am I doing tonight?” he asks her. Attractive, well directed, and strategically apt we’d like to label it. Created by JWT and directed by Werner Damen.

Wow, that’s impressive; getting Charlie Sheen to act sober in a commercial. And how relevant for Bavaria 0% – if Sheen can stay sober on this, it must be a hell of beer. Bavaria has a tradition of using celebs in its advertising. But not just any celeb, always a celeb with an edge. Even Hugh Hefner drank Bavaria in his mansion as if it were his favourite drink. And to promote Bavaria’s 0% beer, the brand has already used known alcoholics. A very long time ago Don Johnson. And more recently Mickey Rourke. So today Charlie Sheen is added to the list. Well timed. Just when he’s getting back on track. Created by Selmore and directed by Jonathan Herman (Bonkers).