Mother’s first campaign for Beefeater restaurants takes the form of
a spoof ’docusoap’ set behind the scenes at different branches of the
Whitbread-owned chain.
All five of the commercials end with the line, ’Beefeater. Serves
Britain right’, and emphasise the chain’s ’Britishness’. The first spot
features a series of religious figures being fought off by a Beefeater
staff member because, ’what with Matins and Sunday School’ they are too
late for Sunday lunch. Beefeater has now solved this problem by serving
Sunday lunch all day.
Christmas is a busy time at Beefeater, and one manager deals with this
by organising her chefs like soldiers in a boot camp. She wakes one up
in the middle of the night to test him with the demand: ’Table six wants
petit pois with their lunch.’ He promptly replies: ’No petit pois.
British food only.’
Another spot shows an Asian restaurant manager thinking up new
promotions.
’Bring your own fish and get chips free’ doesn’t work too well and
another offer, where diners receive a free meal if they dress up as a
cavalier, backfires when a roundhead enters and causes a fight.
Then there is the chef who is ridiculed for using endive at a Beefeater
restaurant, and a pudding research and development officer who is
inundated with elderly ladies trying to get their recipes on to the
Beefeater menu.
The ads were directed by LeMoine Miller from @radical.media.
Mother won the account six months ago (Campaign, 3 April) with a brief
to modernise Beefeater’s image.
