Episode 105 - John McEnroe Michelob Ad reviewed by Ecologi, Attachment and Alamy
Would you want a chance to play tennis against your younger self? John McEnroe got to do just that thanks to Michelob’s strange innovation project.
Our advertisers marked it 3.3 out of 5 - do you think this is fair?
Thanks to our special guest review panel - Ecologi's Adam Boita, Alamy's Emily Shelley and Attachment's Parisa Parmar.
Automated Transcript
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. I'm the founder of Automated Creative, and we're brought to you by our partners, Contagious, who have helped find the ad this week. But before we get to that ad, let's meet this week's guests.
Parisa Parmar 0:25
Hi, everyone. I'm Parisa Parmar, Campaign Manager at Attachment.
Emily Shelley 0:28
Hello, I'm Emily Shelley. I'm the MD of Alamy.
Adam Boita 0:32
And I'm Adam Boita. CMO at Ecologi.
Tom Ollerton 0:34
Fantastic. What a panel! Thanks so much for joining us this week, guys. Do you think it would ever be possible to play tennis against yourself? Probably not. But actually, Michelob have done a fantastic job of making this happen for John McEnroe. Let's see the ad.
So what I'd like you to do is vote for how good you thought this was. So, one, two, three... What was that, Adam? That was a bit of a mix.
Adam Boita 3:17
Four, sorry.
Tom Ollerton 3:19
A two, a four, and a four. Wow! I was completely blown away by this. I thought it was obviously brilliant. But Emily, what was your take?
Emily Shelley 3:25
I thought this was a brilliant stunt and a brilliant bit of tech in search of a brand rather than a brand in search of a brilliant stunt that told a brand story, if I'm honest. To me it was a piece of TV with a sponsor. The joy didn't radiate for me. Thought great bit of telly. Huge amount of viewers. I'm not quite sure that's got to do with a low alcohol light beer.
Parisa Parmar 3:47
I think they've done well by selecting probably one of the most explosive, most exciting tennis players in history, which I think immediately creates that sort of attraction for audiences. That fact he is someone a little bit controversial, he has got a bit of a hot head, we know this is something that audiences definitely take to and certainly engage with. And I think it also helps humanize Michelob as a brand, kind of showing that raw emotion. And sort of showcasing his evolution from someone who's quite hot headed, who didn't typically enjoy the game to now someone who was sort of reflecting on his career with the brand and now we can see him sort of enjoy it a lot more.
Emily Shelley 4:21
Do you think he seemed to be enjoying it? I thought he still seemed just angry as ever. If I'm honest. And the other thing I was thinking is if you're going to pick a brand ambassador for a low alc... for a beer. You know, his dad was an alcoholic, who kind of died from alcoholism, alcoholism, I believe. He's had addiction problems himself. His first wife was an addict. I just, I just, I mean, if I was in that room, and as somebody senior in that brand, I'd be, I'd be thinking, "Yeah, we're gonna get a huge amount of viewers, but are we going to be positioning our brand effectively?"
Parisa Parmar 4:56
I think it is really bold and risky casting, but there's something about about that I think... like that we capture my attention a lot more than if we saw, I don't know, a Tim Henman, maybe? It makes me sort of look twice, and I think we can see and even this year's Wimbledon, the viewers that someone like Nick Kyrgios kind of got was really interesting and exciting because it wasn't necessarily traditional sportsmen in terms of following that etiquette and dress code and things like that. So I think, to some degree, it does turn those heads. I think from the brand, it was very risk taking behavior, which could have gone bad. But I, yeah, I hear you, all of that stuff is definitely, sort of huge considerations in that casting process, for sure.
Adam Boita 5:38
I think everyone, particularly an American audience loves the story of redemption. And he's obviously kind of battled his demons come out the other side. One thing it did remind me of, though, was the, the Rocky Balboa set up in the film, where they hit a virtual Rocky Balboa versus the current champion of the time, and Rocky Balboa obviously came out on top virtually, and then they had the kind of real life match. So it definitely taps into that kind of zeitgeist. I'm always very cynical about tech being used as the reason to do something. But I think the tech has kind of come of age to allow something like this to happen. I thought was an excellent execution.
Emily Shelley 6:16
I know they've got McEnroe and they got him to make the show. But they didn't get him to... In any other format, endorsed the beer. There were no photographs of him that I could find with the beer. You know, they didn't seem to get any line out of him other than something they've made up for the press release.
Parisa Parmar 6:32
I also did think in terms of like product integration, I think that was really, really lacking. Even John, like, playing the game on the perimeter of the court, we could have seen branding and advertising there. Obviously, understand there are kind of sensitivities between alcohol consumption in sports, it would have been quite nice to see McEnroe enjoy a can, after the toughest match ever against his younger self, or have seen audiences consuming the beer. Because ultimately, that's what Michelob wants these audiences to do. Crack open a can and enjoy sporting entertainment.
Adam Boita 7:03
I think this came off the back of also like a documentary series that he did where he just found it impossible to enjoy his success. I do think it definitely ties back to, "It's not worth it if you can't enjoy it." It's kind of like, there is a real personal, I think fit there between brand redemption, his story, that coming out. I don't know exactly how the inception came about. Based on all the other activations that I've seen on their stuff. I think it's probably one that stands out the most. But just on the face value, I think it's a great execution. He fits the bill. I love that kind of tech.
Tom Ollerton 7:32
So what would have made this better?
Emily Shelley 7:33
The whole thing for me was just quite dark, quite gamey, which is fine, but... And you clearly enjoyed it, but that just doesn't bear any relation to me to the rest of their marketing and the rest of their brand that I've seen, which is all quite white. It's all, you know, it's all about joy. Actually, the Wimbledon aesthetic, that green, that white would be much more in keeping with the rest of their brand. So if I was ESPN, I would have probably find another sponsor if that's where it originated. Where if I was, you know, UNIT 9 with the tech, that actually made more sense.
Adam Boita 8:08
Could they have had like mini activations where you can, you know, can you return McEnroe's 1970s serve? Obviously, you don't have the same setup with all the kind of water stuff but you could have had, you know, an image of him serving you with a robotic arm that could have been activated in, you know, local parks or local tennis clubs. Maybe you get some kind of grassroots activations there.
Emily Shelley 8:28
You think they could have worked with Serena? So she's one of their brand ambassadors too. Serena Williams, and if she'd done Serena versus Billie Jean King and her day, you'd have a story to tell about the evolution of the women's game. That might have been a bit more compelling.
Adam Boita 8:43
I think the whole, "It's not worth it unless you enjoy it." There's definitely that kind of mental health piece to that isn't it? You know, you've only got to look at young stars like Emma Raducanu who hasn't really had much success since her, you know, US Open win. And the pressure that younger players feel under and that's clearly what he felt when he was younger player and he now looks back on it. I think yeah, there's definitely got more grassroots, mental health within tennis, within sport that could have been inspired off the back of this.
Tom Ollerton 9:08
I started this episode thinking this was great, but now you've, you've turned me off it. So well done. Emily, Parisa, Adam, thank you so much.
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