Shiny, happy people

In order to reach a younger, male market in the US, the latest Stolichnaya campaign has replaced originality with a "me too" generic drinks formula, laments Jon Rees

NO MATTER what the creatives at the advertising agency say, there is sometimes a place for telling it like it is in commercials, especially for booze.  Of course, there is always a conflict between what the creative director wants, what the account director wants and what the client wants.

The first wants to make a great, award-winning commercial, be lauded by his peers for his artistic talent and find himself plucked from obscurity to direct the next Hollywood low-budget, high-art film which nevertheless makes money and stars Dennis Hopper.

The account director wants to get a bonus, take another step towards becoming his boss, take charge of the agency’s flagship account, featuring big budgets, expensive hotels and doing-it-forthe- money movie stars.

The client wants, above all, to sell the product in huge quantities. He naturally also wants to demonstrate his understanding of branding to a sceptical board, but above all he wants to sell the product because he knows that is the best way to demonstrate his understanding of branding.

And he wants to be able to imply, without actually spelling it out, that he is on first name terms with the stars of his commercials, as long as they are film stars and not Labrador puppies.  I once talked to the marketing director of a paints company who showed me an early version of his latest commercial, which featured the voice of the late, great John Thaw of "Sweeney" and "Morse" fame.

After we’d watched the ad and its 10 second cut-downs twice – why twice I can’t imagine since a two year old would be bored senseless watching a new paint commercial more than once – he assumed the air of a world-weary master of the cinematic arts, a kind of jet-lagged Martin Scorsese, and said, "He’s a lovely guy but I’m not sure John is really right for the role.

I think we’re going to have to let him go."  All of which brings me to vodka, in particular Stolichnaya vodka as marketed in the US by Allied Domecq. Just over a year ago Stolichnaya’s advertising campaign was subtle, quiet, an oasis of calm in a world where the average  consumer sees or hears thousands of commercials every single day.

It was based on the ancient Japanese art of paper-folding, origami. In this case, the paper being folded was the label of the Stolichnaya bottle which was transformed into various attractive figures and animals.

The tagline to the commercial was, "See what unfolds".  The campaign ran for about a year and then, frankly, Allied Domecq decided it had had enough.  The time had come to cut the crap, as Greg Dyke would say, and tell it like it is.

So out goes the gentle, but theoretically memorable and singular, Japanese paper folding, and in come bars filled with gorgeous women for whom Stoli-drinking "regular guys" are clearly the answer to a maiden’s prayer – rules forbidding linking alcohol with sexual success notwithstanding.

In, too, is the usual gathering of fun-loving friends just hanging out and having a great time. In other words, it could be any one of a dozen equally forgettable drinks campaigns which have aired over the years.

There are a variety of executions in the campaign, produced by Publicis & Hal Riney in San Francisco, but perhaps one will give the flavour of it.  It features a group of attractive women, posed before some vodka and the tagline reads:  "To the girls in the far booth.

Even if they don’t know us yet."  To be honest, I think anyone who thought up an ad like that ought to be horse-whipped, but then it is not my job to market Stolichnaya vodka in the US.  It is Allied Domecq’s and the company decided that its previous campaign, and indeed brand positioning, was wrong.

Before, it was aiming to tempt men and women, aged between 25-34 years to drink  tolichnaya. Now it is aiming at a younger, predominantly male market.  The reason for the shift? Vodka is a big market in the US with around 10 million cases shipped a year and Stoli is number two, behind Absolut, made by Vin & Sprit of Sweden.

It is a market which is growing steadily, too, and offers big rewards for the right approach.  So Allied Domecq did a lot of research to find out just how big its potential market is and it discovered that younger men, out with a group of friends "having a high energy" experience, as Allied’s vice president of strategic planning told the New York Times, were its best bet.

So out goes subtlety and in come shots of "extremely happy people having an extremely good time" drinking in bars – which is how Gordon Robertson, an executive at the agency which created the origami campaign, the Chicago office of BBDO Worldwide, disparagingly, but accurately, described the multitude of generic drinks campaigns.

The key thing, according to the account director, Brad Fogel, was to focus on the core strength of the brand.  This apparently meant rejecting images of sleazy bars, which were too "beerlike", making sure the drinkers were a little better dressed and making it more "vodka-like, more Stoli-like".

There we are, which client wouldn’t be persuaded by such insight? Just to make sure we know where Stoli is from, all print and outdoor ads feature a red border with the words "Stolichnaya Russian vodka" appearing in large, white letters.

The campaign began in July so it is too early to tell whether telling it like it is will work for Allied Domecq, but the company has faith that it will and is spending up to US$15m to make sure.  Now, most of the time I’m all for telling it like it is in advertising, but just sometimes I yearn for a bolshie creative director who thinks what he does is art.