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A risque but impactful animated campaign for Boddingtons, by Bartle

Bogle Hegarty, makes its first showing in the Adwatch table this week at

number 20, with 45% recall. The ad has already generated 42 complaints

to the Independent Television Commission, owing to its sexual content,

with the full weight of the campaign yet to come.

The ad kicks off an pounds 11m year-long marketing push, after several

months of little activity. Its theme of ’chilled cream’ builds on the

brand’s previous associations, but reflects the fact that it is now

served colder on draft.

The animated ads feature scantily-clad brunette Claudia, and Graham the

cow, who enjoys a playboy lifestyle in ’Cream Mansion’.

In the first execution of three, Graham pours himself a pint of

Boddingtons as Claudia shows up in a convertible car. She entices him

upstairs and onto a bed, and then blindfolds him. When he removes the

blindfold, his Boddingtons has been drunk.

The ad closes with Graham exclaiming: ’Cor! Lasses these days, they’re

only after one thing!’

The campaign marks the first change in direction since the early

1990s.

The brand’s first ad, back in 1991, showed a woman putting ’cream’ onto

her face. The cream was revealed to be Boddingtons, and the ad finished

with a man in black-tie rubbing his face against her hair and saying

with a Mancunian twang: ’By ’eck, you smell gorgeous tonight petal!’

Research found that people viewed Boddingtons as a mould-breaking ale, a

perception which Kathryn McNamara, Boddingtons’ marketing manager,

admits probably has a lot to do with the brand’s advertising. The

research also showed that the time had come to reinforce the brand

message: cream and refreshment.

The decision to go with animation was made on the back of the popularity

of adult animations such as South Park, The Simpsons and King of the

Hill.

Boddingtons was aware that watchdogs might have a problem with the use

of animation to sell alcohol, as it could attract children.

’We worked with the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre from the very

start,’ says McNamara. ’We made sure the ads were adult in style. We

used no cute and cuddly characters and the storyline had to be

appropriate, using adult situations.’

The second ad, which is on screens at the moment, takes place in a night

club and the third, out later this year, has a horror theme.

The real talking point of the ad is Graham the cow, who is male, but has

udders. Both the agency and client felt that if Graham had been a bull,

the creamy connection would be lost. Besides, says McNamara: ’People

accept it’s not real!’