Ever wondered about the thinking behind major advertising ca
The set-up: Vinnie Jones is once again in the Latin Quarter. He is in a bar where he challenges the sexy Claudia Aros to an arm-wrestling competition. As the pair clasp hands and the contest begins, Claudia kicks off a shoe and begins to walk her foot up Vinnie's leg. Momentarily distracted, the hardman loses his concentration and his hand comes crashing down to the table. He picks up a bottle of Bacardi and slams it onto the table. The tension is resolved, however, with Bacardi and Cokes all-round. Disecting Vinnie: As with the last two Bacardi adverts, the ultra-cool Vinnie is in a situation where his temper is being tested by circumstance. The combination of Bacardi and Coke and the inherent good vibe of the Latin Quarter are enough, however, to calm Vinnie's wrath. Bacardi rum controller John Burke says: "Vinnie very much represents the consumer. He brings edge, relevance and a conversation point to the ad. Once Vinnie is seen in the setting of the Latin Quarter, people know it's a Bacardi advert." And Luke White, creative director at advertising agency McCann Erickson and co-author of the script, says: "The image of Bacardi is of a very sociable drink. The idea behind the campaign is that it's much better to have fun than be cool." The best joke: In a clever reference to a famous footballing incident involving Vinnie and Paul Gascoigne, Claudia squeezes the juice out of two limes with a single hand. Naturally enough, Vinnie is impressed. No expense spared: The budget for filming the advert was about £1m. The bar setting required the casting of three principal characters Vinnie Jones, Claudia Aros and DJ Normski eight featured cast members and 50 extras. Filming took four days at the end of April in the famous Barrandov Studios in Prague because a sound studio was needed. Burke says: "The facilities in Prague are amongst the largest in Europe and, importantly, there is a large pool of great extras to cast from. This enabled us to get a really funky, vibrant crowd and a great atmosphere on set." A little slice of cinema: Although the advertisement lasts just 50 seconds, there's a very "cinematic" approach. "We're a premium brand so our advertising should feel high quality," says Burke. "Lots of time goes into making sure things are absolutely perfect on a commercial. The reason is that people will see our commercial many more times than they would a film so mistakes will be noticed." The ad's director is Howard Greenhalgh who has shot music videos for Genesis and Muse as well as adverts for Reebok, Renault and UK Online, among others. "It's a particular craft," says Burke. "You've got very condensed story-telling in an advert." What has been the effect on Bacardi sales since Vinnie began to appear? Overall sales have reached a 10-year high with 1.1m cases sold a year, increasing 5.4% since the introduction of the "Welcome to the Latin Quarter" campaign in August 2001. The on-trade sales volume has been stable, but value has in-creased by 9.7%. Burke says: "We are pleased with volume increases, but this doesn't really do justice to the huge positive shifts in brand image we are seeing. This is yet to feed into the volume numbers, although it's coming." Strategic link-up with Coca-Cola: The new advert attempts to raise the profile of the Bacardi and Coke combination, which Bacardi research indicates consumers prefer to vodka and Coke. Burke says: "We know factually that Bacardi and Coke is a better- tasting drink than vodka and Coke. It out-performs Smirnoff and Coke in blind tastings by two-to-one. So one purpose of the advert is to dial-up that benefit." In which countries will the advert be seen? The "Latin Quarter" campaign has, so far, been aired in the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal and Turkey, but plans are in place to show the advertisments across Europe and in emerging markets. At the moment, the UK advertising is Bacardi rum's leading advertising globally. In the UK, the advert was first aired at the weekend, with a heavyweight campaign planned on television throughout the next four weeks.
