Maurice Breen represents an interesting combination of
nationalities.
The Scottish Courage brands director for premium lagers is a Canadian
who lives in Scotland and markets a French beer.
Breen is behind Kronenbourg 1664’s latest TV and cinema advertising
(Campaign, 25 September), which breaks nationally this week. The Young &
Rubicam campaign retains the endline, ’Best loved premium beer in
France’, but aims for a more urban and modern approach than the last
Kronenbourg push.
Gone are the scenes of rural drudgery and the notion that some people
are made miserable by Kronenbourg’s success that characterised last
year’s ad featuring the French wine-growers, Gerard and Thierry, who
were going out of business due to booming beer sales.
’I think we have taken a significant step forward with Kronenbourg,’
Breen explains, ’and are targeting our audience more accurately. We have
brought the campaign into a different context, moving away from the
countryside and into a more urban environment. We have aimed to show a
different cut on French life.’
He admits that it is a big shift for the brand, but one that was deemed
necessary by Courage’s own analysis. ’Research was telling us that we
had to put more life into Kronenbourg. It needed updating, and I think
that’s what we’ve achieved,’ he says.
The three executions, which compete with those for Whitbread’s Stella
Artois - which markets itself on the back of French rural life -
illustrate the lengths people will go to in order to obtain a
Kronenbourg. All three ads are based on the well-known French
expressions, ’c’est la vie’, ’deja vu’ and ’savoir faire’, and are
backed by music from the French rap band, Back Beat.
Breen is confident about the new work and is unashamedly complimentary
about the team at Y&R. ’They have held this account since the early 90s,
but it’s great to be working with an agency that is on such a positive
roll at the moment. We’re very glad to be a part of that,’ he says.
