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Stella Artois has literally stepped into battle with the latest

execution in its ’Reassuringly Expensive’ TV ad campaign, as the brand

looks to bolster its 36% share of the premium beer market.

The ad, created by Lowe Lintas & Partners as part of Stella’s pounds 15m

adspend for the year, will be unveiled later this week at the Stella

Screen outdoor tour in Brighton.

Shot on location in Provence, the 60-second ad comes two years after the

launch of the campaign’s previous ad, Last Orders.

The new execution features a pair of heroic soldiers returning to their

home village at the end of a war in which one of them has been seriously

injured.

The pair head for a local bar, owned by the father of one of the

soldiers, where a bottle of wine is opened in celebration.

However, silence descends on the room when both men reject the wine and

ask instead for a Stella. While the barman’s son is given his pint, his

companion, who saved his life on the battlefield, is left with only a

small glass of wine.

’The ad communicates our core brand values extremely effectively: the

soldier may be a hero, but he still hasn’t done enough to earn a free

Stella,’ said Stella Artois senior brand manager Amanda Wraight. ’It

reinforces the product’s premium quality value, while also moving the

campaign a step forward.’

The ad will be shown in cinemas for three weeks, before being rolled out

on TV breaks around feature films.

It will also feature at future Stella Screen events in Liverpool,

Swansea and London.

It ties in with Stella’s sponsorship of Channel 4’s prime-time and

Sunday night film broadcasts, and Film Four’s monthly film season

(Marketing, April 27).

The Stella Artois brand, owned by Belgian beer giant Interbrew, also has

a long-standing sponsorship deal, for the annual tennis tournament at

Queen’s Club.