Carlsberg UK has launched its most ambitious and honest consumer facing campaign ever in a bid to drive reappraisal of its flagship beer brand.
So says the blurb about the new £20m campaign conceived in collaboration with agencies Fold7, Clifford French and Initiative.
The campaign centres around the ‘acknowledgement’ that today Carlsberg is ‘Probably not the best beer in the world’. Apparently, this honesty has led to the beer being completely rebrewed so that the Carlsberg Danish Pilsner can finally live up to its famous promise.
Quite why it has taken them nearly 45 years to realise that the brand didn’t quite live up to the strapline is anyone’s guess, even though the original ad did feature the dulcet tones of Campaign’s favourite, Orson Wells.
“At Carlsberg UK, we lost our way. We focused on brewing quantity, not quality; we became one of the cheapest, not the best. In order to live up to our promise of being ‘probably the best beer in the world’, we had to start again. We’ve completely rebrewed Carlsberg from head to hop,” said Carlsberg UK’s VP marketing, Liam Newton.
The new strapline, “perfectly-balanced” Carlsberg Danish Pilsner beer is designed to challenge a generation of drinkers to re-appraise and re-trial Carlsberg.
“Today, the value of brand honesty to consumers is more powerful than ever. But it is still rare to see brands hold their hands up when they don’t live up to their promise. Carlsberg has not only been brave enough to do this, but have done something about it,” said Fold7’s managing partner, James Joice.
So, what is the consensus around the Decision Marketing office? Brave? Not really. A bit cheesy? Most definitely but a pretty valiant effort…
Decision Marketing Adometer: 7 out of 10
