This commercial for Bavaria 0% featuring Mickey Rourke, took us a while to appreciate. It was probably because we had to get over the joke at the end – shocking alright, but not very tasteful. The film was created by Selmore and directed by Jonathan Herman. Conceptually it does make sense of course; thanks to Bavaria 0% Rourke only throws his minibar out of the window of the prestigious Waldorf Astoria…phew. Well (type) casted. And we don’t know what it costs these days to hire Rourke for an ‘European’ commercial, but asking him buys you a guaranteed amount of exposure. It makes even more sense if you know that Bavaria has a tradition of using Hollywood stars to sell its non-alcoholic beer. This one for example with Don Johnson – who at the time had just finished his successful Miami Vice career and drinking habit – made the brand instantly famous in the Netherlands. The big difference between Johnson at the time and Rourke today, is that Rourke has reached some sort of a cult status – for a big part thanks to his brilliant role in The Wrestler. Maybe that’s the reason why we like the commercial after all.

This is a screenshot from a carnival hit conceived by Kumpany for Bavaria. Maybe not many people know this, but carnival is quite big in the Netherlands. That is, if you live ‘below the rivers’ (read: in the south). Every year in January/February some odd carnival hits seep through to the North. This year there was this hit called ‘Zachte G, Harde L’. Translated ‘Soft G’ – referring to the accent in the south – and ‘Hard L’ – referring to the male reproduction organ. The hit already has 1.5 million hits on YouTube, which – for Dutch standards – is quite impressive. What’s more, the song was played intensively on 538. And Jos van Oss, the singer, performed the song throughout the Netherlands in local bars and clubs. Only after the song became a hit, Jos van Oss revealed (on SBS Show News) it was a viral for Bavaria. In the YouTube video Jos only subtly holds a can of Bavaria in his hand. In hindsight it’s clear that the video is advertising for Bavaria – Jos for instance pees against the Heineken brewery. For some it will only generate big question marks, but if you understand Dutch culture, it is a hit – both literally and figuratively.

This beautiful commercial for Bavaria is created by Selmore, directed by Matthijs van Heijningen (the legendary Dutch film maker) and post produced by 8VFX. It should be no surprise that it immediately made us think of the legendary Noitulove campaign for Guinness by AMV/BBDO (Grand Prix, Cannes 2006) – “Good things come to those who wait”. And if you’re asking yourself why the drop, after its epic journey, is disrespectfully being swallowed by a bull dog, you need to know that Bavaria likes to position itself as a down to earth beer, also meant for the man in the street. So even though Bavaria likes to make big budget productions – especially since it has been working with Selmore – and is the “only beer brewed with pure mineral water”, it also comes to those who accidently catch it.

Heineken’s walk-in fridge by TBWA\Neboko is already a classic. After Bavaria couldn’t resist to spoof it, here’s another brand that loves the concept. Execution is a bit shitty, but it still honours TBWA’s original.

The last Bavaria commercial made by Selmore spoofed Heineken. This one spoofs the characteristic clicking sound made by some of the southern African languages. When the Swedish UN delegate explains that the Namibians should not ‘cannibalize on other projects’, the interpreter by mistake literally translates the word ‘cannibalize’. The Namibians are not amused. Fortunately he opens a bottle of Bavaria after his tiring session… Somewhat farfetched, fairly patronizing, but definitely humorous and matching with the cheeky Bavaria image. For the director, Jonathan Herman, it must have been great to shoot this one! Herman also directed this very funny and conceptually strong commercial for Bavaria in 2008.

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).