Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe’s first television work for the
Beamish brand breaks this week as part of a pounds 4 million campaign
contrasting the personalities of the red ale and the black stout
options.
Five pairs of commercials for the Scottish Courage-owned brand address
the issues of reincarnation, love, money, failure and marriage. By top
and tailing ad breaks, Beamish presents the red and black sides of life,
highlighting two elements of the Irish character.
A dark, swarthy, tousle-haired man represents the black approach to life
- contemplative and romantic. For him, love, represented by a picture of
a burning heart, is ’what happens to a man and a woman who don’t know
each other’. His sardonic mood dictates that ’marriage is not a
word.
It’s a sentence’ and that failure ’is so much more interesting than
success’.
The red side of life is communicated by a bright, eccentric,
flame-haired Irishman who represents the extrovert, humorous, lively
side of the Irish character.
’Money. I denounce it and all its evils,’ he says. ’Give me nature,
spirituality and a good woman (whose father owns a pub).’
Failure is also viewed without the brooding intensity: ’If at first you
don’t succeed, try, try and try again. Then quit - there’s no point
making a fool of yourself.’ While saying this, he fiddles unsuccessfully
with a Rubik’s cube, and eventually spray-paints one side of the cube to
make the colours match up.
Each of the spots ends with a close-up of a pint and the words ’drink to
the red side’ or ’drink to the black side’.
John Nicolson, the marketing director of Scottish Courage, said: ’The
Irish have different but complementary ways of looking at life. Beamish,
with its black and red variants, answers the call for a number of
different attitudes, tastes and occasions.’
The pairs of commercials were created by the agency’s two creative
partners, Robert Campbell and Mark Roalfe, and directed by Jeff Stark
through Stark Films.
Media buying for all Scottish Courage brands is through MediaVest.
