Episode 121 - Carlsberg 'Car - z - berg' Vietnam Ad Reviewed by Infosys and Scott Grenz
Carlsberg “Car-Z-berg” ad in Vietnam is certainly intriguing. The ad, chosen by our partners Contagious, features a billboard that you can talk to which gives you free beer if you say ‘Carlsberg’ correctly.
Genius?
Made up?
Does it matter?
Watch the latest episode and hear from our marketing experts, Scott Grenz and Infosys’ Associate VP of Marketing Noushir Jagmag.
Episode 121 - Carlsberg 'Car - z - berg' Vietnam Ad Reviewed by Infosys and Scott Grenz
Transcript is automatically generated, so not perfect, but you get the idea!
Tom Ollerton 0:00
Hello and welcome to Advertisers Watching Ads. This is a weekly show where brands watch other brands' ads.
My name is Tom Ollerton, and we are brought to you as ever by our partners, Contagious, who helped us choose the ad this week. But before we get to that ad, let's meet this week's guests.
Noushir Jagmag 0:39
Hi, my name is Noushir Jagmag. I'm the Associate Vice President at Infosys.
Scott Grenz 0:44
And I'm Scott Grenz, the founder of Genco Pura Media. We're a media advisory company and we help find solutions for agencies, clients, and media sellers.
Tom Ollerton 0:54
This week's ad is from Carlsberg in Vietnam. It's a giant way, out of home billboard thing, that if you say the right word to it, it'll give you an ice cold beer. What is not to like?
It's the time to get statistics now, guys. So I'm going to get you to give this a vote. One, two, three... A three and a two. That will put Carlsberg mid table. So what's the wider context? What's going on outside of this video?
Scott Grenz 3:03
Carlsberg is in the Vietnam marketplace. It's trying to move up in the rankings in terms of share. Basically, they have created this interactive out of home campaign. I think it does two things, really, it brings name awareness, obviously. There's difficulty pronouncing the name Carlsberg, I guess, in Vietnamese dialect. Also sampling opportunity, and I think also brilliantly, it generates a lot of video content for them to play on different platforms and stuff. So I think it's something that has a lot of different arms and legs around it and really create some really cool video organically. So...
Noushir Jagmag 3:33
Three things for the ad which kind of stuck with me was, one, of course, you know, getting the brand name right for people to resonate and work on calling it the right name, which is important in some of the regions. Two, product sampling, great way to, sample the products for the company. And three, I feel, is the whole experience. The integrated experience of bringing people together and enjoying a beer because I mean, in that environment, it only creates a positive impact. There's no negativity when you have something like this in public, and where people are going at it, trying to call different names. And you know, it's, it only creates like a very positive environment for the brand, which is great.
Tom Ollerton 4:17
I think this is directly outside their office, like no question. Do you know what I mean? It's not... This isn't like a, like a busy drinking area, is it? Like, look at that! There's clearly the corporate office in the background.
Scott Grenz 4:29
It's a corporate park.
Tom Ollerton 4:32
There's this other bar here, you know, so...
Noushir Jagmag 4:34
Probably these are their employees, Tom?
Tom Ollerton 4:36
Of course it is! Of course, it's the employees.
Scott Grenz 4:40
It was staged. Staged product sampling.
Noushir Jagmag 4:42
So it is staged. What you're seeing in the ad is the fun bit, you know? I'm assuming this will be a manned billboard with somebody looking at you. The ad is a summary of bringing that emotion together or to present it in a positive way. So that's, that's how I'm seeing it. I mean, absolutely a product sampling aspect to it. Because otherwise, I mean, you know, it just doesn't make sense.
Scott Grenz 4:44
It's yeah, I would say, it's more event marketing than it is out of home. I guess in my context, I probably could have been clearer and said, you know, what this really is, is event marketing. And, you know, but it is, I think the brilliant part that's not to be, you know, lost in the discussion is what it creates. The content that it kind of creates on probably not a whole lot of money. That they're able to generate different videos off of this, and you know, different kinds of things off of this thing.
Noushir Jagmag 5:32
Keeping it with the name. The recall is fantastic. And I mean, you know, there is no way you can associate anything else, with this ad for the product, which I think is fantastic.
Scott Grenz 5:44
If anything, if this thing works as intended, you know, people are going to remember the name Carlsberg, I mean, that's what you want, when you go to the, go to a bar, that's, you want to be able to say the name and order, order the beer, and I think it really has a nice play with that.
Tom Ollerton 5:56
It could also translate into a lot of in-store promotions, and you can do a lot with it, you know, you can really tread this campaign into a larger activation campaign. The FIFA World Cup is going on, they could have actually got different countries to compete and, you know, they could've rode on something bigger, and you know, larger, you know, get people to compete.
Scott Grenz 6:22
TikTok memes and all that kind of stuff, consumers could have a play with it as well.
Noushir Jagmag 6:26
It's about accents, right? And I think, you know, if I were to give you a completely different perspective, it is almost like making fun of somebody's accent saying, "Hey, you can't pronounce the name of my brand properly." Or whatever, right? I mean, it could almost be offensive. Can be taken in a very negative way as well. I mean, that's, of course, another complete different perspective of how you see something like this.
Tom Ollerton 6:46
Do you see people taking offense to this?
Noushir Jagmag 6:48
Not really, but again, I'm just saying, as a brand, you need to... When you, when you launch a campaign, you need to look at the local implications, you know, because I'm not an expert on Vietnam as a region or the people. Maybe they're taking sportingly, maybe they'll not? You never know, right? I mean, it's a very thin line, which you have to really, you know, make a choice on.
Scott Grenz 7:13
Between the brand team and the agency, they would have a good enough feel and would hope around what would play and what wouldn't play that they wouldn't put anything in the marketplace that would have a negative impact. So you would hope, but I mean, it's, it's a point well raised, because I think especially in the Western world, you know, Tom, things like... These are the kinds of things that in this day and age, we have to think about, like who, who we upsetting? Who we, who we turning off? Who's going to write us letters based on this kind of a thing? And it's a great point. But you would hope down in Vietnam, the agency and the client together, you know, had the perception that this would be viewed as something that'd be well received and have a laugh kind of a thing rather than something else.
Tom Ollerton 7:51
Would you sign this off? So thumbs up or down? Three, two, one...
Noushir Jagmag 7:56
I mean, just on the ad, I would say thumbs up. But in the holistic campaign, I would go thumbs down.
Scott Grenz 8:03
That's same for me. I really enjoyed the ad. And I really was, you know, I like beer, so...
Noushir Jagmag 8:10
When I first watched the ad, I was in a happy mood. You know, I was in a happy place. It goes like, "Oh, this is fun. This is cool." But then, that's it. When you start peeling the onion as a marketer... I mean, as a consumer, I saw it, will I remember it forever? No. Maybe I'll remember it for that point of time, felt good about it, moved on. But as a marketer, if I am, you know, putting my job on the line for something like this, then I would have to peel the onion saying, "Okay, what next? How am I going to measure outcomes? And what is it going to result in?" So that for me is a thumbs down because that does not cut the ice for me.
Scott Grenz 8:47
If we're looking at this as a catalyst, right? To light a fuse to get some awareness going, that the follow on is going to be the thing that carries the ball the next couple of yards or what have you. And it's part of an integrated campaign over years then, then I think then looking back historically, it takes on a much more positive light that if something that actually got things going for them. It was a thing that got them going but that's to be seen. We don't know but standalone right now in the current slice of time that we see ourselves in. Yes, it's hard to say that this thing is going to be the thing that kind of gets, you know... There's going to be a lasting campaign in Carlsberg.
Tom Ollerton 9:20
An interesting discussion nonetheless, guys, Scott, Noushir, we'll see you next time.
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