Want to Escape Boredom, Change The Beer You Drink, says Goodby Ad

The ad addresses the issue of ennui and boredom that follows a nine to five desk job. Nick Spahr, associate creative director at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners feels that, graduates who have just joined work after the fun-filled and organized college environment can fall into a furrow that shackles them and makes them prisoners of schedules, making their lives very monotonous and lacklustre.

He said, “You were in this unstructured environment, and now you have this job. You wake up, eat breakfast, go to work, go out, go home. It’s the same thing over and over.”

In the United States, Corona is the top selling imported beer manufacturer. Corona Light, approached Goodby, to use this youth boredom disquiet, to tell them that the company’s brown beers, Bud Light and Miller Lite, are the panacea for all their boredom. The company has envisaged two spots with the agency, the first of which, titled “Stan,” was released recently and the second one will follow soon.

The ad opens with a mosaic of still-frame images that feature two youths, mechanically and perfunctorily, performing their daily routine, “eat, work, brown bottle light beer, sleep, repeat.” However, they find that the boring cycle that they find themselves stuck in is broken, when they exchange the beer they are drinking, with a Corona Light – a refreshingly different night, full of dance, music, new friends, informal clothes, ensues. The ad concludes with its new tagline, “A Refreshing Change of Beer.

Copywriter David Roth and art director came up with a brilliantly musical script that, on paper appears to be bizarre but effectively captures the youth’s boredom. The voice in the background sounds like he is singing not narrating the script, “Stan … Stan … Eat…Work…. Gym…. Shower…. Beer….Watch… Sleep.”

Each “sleep” line is followed by concise mirage-like illusory live-action moments, that include a talking sheep and a girl sitting on a red ball, both asking, the hero to “dream.” This monotonous cycle breaks during the fourth cycle, “Bro hugs. Costume party. Girl. Karaoke. Dance-a-thon. Photo booth. Digit-swapping. All night. Corona Light. Stan! Stan!”

Jim Sabia, chief marketing officer, Crown Imports said, “We wanted to explore the concept of how trading-up on your beer can alter the course of your entire night. Our campaign takes aim at the post-college, day-to-day rut that many people find themselves falling into by offering a refreshing Corona Light as the way to break free from the monotony.

What distinguishes this ad from the other ads is that it is composed primarily of still photographs. 80 percent of it is still imagery and a script, that was not a song, had to be sung. It was different and the agency has managed to get it just right. The music is catchy and fun. The concept is innovative and novel.