If you have not seen the "BIG AD" by Australian beer brewery Carlton Draught, you are missing one of the treats of television advertising this year. And it won't be appearing on U.S. television sets.
The BIG AD -- you can watch it here -- isn't just about grandiose advertising.
It's also very much about public relations.
The ad has generated a tremendous amount of buzz in the advertising trade, which is where we spotted it (thanks to my wife and her subscription to Advertising Age and the AdAge website).
Checks of Google and Technorati find that the ad is being mentioned constantly in all sorts of blogs. It is generating media coverage, and thus feeding more viewers -- worldwide, even -- into the Carlton Draught brand. The beer is sold in the U.S. Their sales here might just pick up a notch as this ad makes its way around websites frequented by U.S. readers. I know I'm itching to try some Carlton.
The ad is an over-the-top but still well-within-bounds mixture of humor, product placement, and expansive staging on a meadow before the mountains of New Zealand. The buzz from the ad may just generate more sales of beer, increasing competition, and attracting new customers.
BIG AD even earns the ultimate compliment: a spoof called "small ad." You can watch the spoof here.
Comments