The latest ad for Bass Brewers' Carling highlights the captivating nature of the UK's number one lager brand. The second ad of a campaign created by The Leith Agency, it enters Adwatch at number 17 with 44% recall.
The 40-second 'One-track mind' ad follows a young man as he leaves a gym to go home. Failing to notice that the attractive gym receptionist is stark naked, he then ignores a talking dog on the street, before being similarly unimpressed by a bearded man with a herd of goats that he encounters on the stairs to his flat.
Finally, paying no attention to a wrecking ball that crashes through his living room wall, he walks straight to the fridge, pours a can of Carling into a glass and takes a gulp.
A separate launch ad for the campaign broke on December 8. It showed a young man looking out of his apartment window at the goings-on of his neighbours, only to discover that they in turn are all riveted by the sight of his glass of Carling.
The pounds 7m TV and cinema campaign is the first for Carling by The Leith Agency, which won the account after Bass ended its 16-year relationship with WCRS last August. WCRS was responsible for the 'Dambusters' and 'Squirrels' campaigns, and created the famous 'I bet he drinks Carling Black Label' line, but Bass felt its flagship brand was in need of a revamp.
'We recognised that our target audience and their expectations are different from ten years ago, when Carling advertising had its heyday. They are now more sophisticated and worldly-wise,' says Bass marketing director Mark Hunter.
David Amstel, account director at The Leith Agency, says the brief for this campaign was to dramatise the desirability of Britain's best-loved lager and give Carling a powerful advertising personality. 'We wanted to create advertising that would give Carling a high profile and a level of status that the UK's number one lager deserves,' he says.
The campaign is targeted at younger lager drinkers but, in such a highly competitive market, it is no simple task to carve a distinctive niche for a brand.
'It is difficult because you're not dealing with something like washing powder, where you can talk about product performance,' says Amstel. 'In this market it's all about who can convey a personality and attitude in the strongest way.'
Hunter adds that it wanted to take a more mature approach to Carling's advertising. 'The 'let's play it for laughs' work that has driven the lager market has had it's day. The new ads for Carling are more subtle.'
Carling had a 20.1% share of the total lager market in the year to October 2000 - a 2% rise on the previous 12 months. Its closest rival is Foster's, which has a 15.2% share, followed by Stella, with 11.4%. (ACNielsen).
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