Molson: I Am Canadian

by Carlos Menezes

Today we have an example of a clip that isn't a particularly good advert but still makes for a fine viral. I struggled to appreciate the humour, the voice-overs and the entire gist of the advert, and personally I think it's a very poor commercial.

Nevertheless, its subject matter and the angle that it plays (Canadian versus US national pride) have made it a talking point online, which will again push its spread and increase target-consumer loyalty - admittedly whilst still painfully segmenting its marketplace. After all, it seems pretty strange for a beer to ostracize the entire US market.



I guess that part of the ad's saving grace is that its spread will be largely confined to a Canadian audience (or at least, to an anti-US one), thereby limiting any potential brand damage.

The only way I can expect this to make it to an American viewer's inbox would be for one of that individual's Canadian 'friends' to send it his way as a jibe. But from thereon in it would be somewhat contained, as that American would be unlikely to further pass it on.

Still - why take such a risky angle? True, online does allow a brand to  successfully pinpoint  target market-segments and ensure maximum spread within them, but Molson are taking such a large risk with this one while using a very base tactic that I have to question their wisdom.

2008/03/30 | permalink | comments (1) | trackbacks (0)
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Oh please... I'm American (albeit married to a Canadian) and I think the commercial is pretty funny and not offensive at all. It's clearly a joke. It's not like Molson is trying to seriously suggest Canada beat the US to the moon...

We've had similar jokes on the Canadians like "Canadian Bacon" the Michael Moore / John Candy film about the US going to war with Canada. ("They've amassed 90% of their population within 100 miles of the United States. They're clearly intending to invade, so we'll attack them first...")

Canadian is actually a pretty good beer. If nothing else it gets people to think about the product and smile...

Plus diehard US beer drinkers drink US beers. True, some of them will be humorless dolts who won't get the joke, but they aren't Molson customers anyway - not even potential ones. I'm confident the people in the US who are open to buying Canadian will get the joke.

Posted by Jay Harper on 2008/04/02

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